SERENITY PRAYER

               SERENITY PRAYER
     I hadn't had a drink in nearly 10 years...
GOD GRANT ME THE SERENITY...
     Highschool. A time of secrets and intrigue. A microcosm of screaming hormones mixed with illicit relationships and illegal substances.
     I don't remember it much. You know the saying they usually attribute to the 60's and 70's... "If you remember it, then you weren't there." Well, I'm told I was there. I became the stuff of high school legend. But now, it's like hearing about someone else. An old tale I recognize...
     But it's not me.
TO ACCEPT THE THINGS I CANNOT CHANGE...
     I am a recovering alcoholic. I cannot change the past. I can only be responsible for one day at a time. I was doing pretty good, until my friend reminded me about our 10th highschool reunion.
THE COURAGE TO CHANGE THE THINGS I CAN...
     No, I cannot change the past. But I decided to attempt to change the way people remember me. I can't be the only one who's ever been ashamed of their teenaged self.
     So there I went, dressed responsibly, a 28 year old semi-professional something or other. Just the fact that I could hold down a job is something, right? No matter if I can't actually explain what I do.
     Who cares, right?
AND THE WISDOM TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE...
     Well. That was last night. That was until I met up with my old cohorts, reminiscing about the good old days. That was before somebody passed around the proverbial bottle, and drenched in the past, I took a sip. Then another.
     And woke up naked in the middle of the football field, clothes strewn all around me.
     Hindsight is 20/20. I never should have gone.
     If only I could remember where I left my pants.
AMEN.
--Shayla Kwiatkowski, 2013
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     This is a short story I wrote for a Writer's Digest prompt. The premise is a recovering alcoholic falls off the wagon at a high school reunion. The starting & closing sentences are as written. Just a little fun thing.