I got asked to make a video

Freedom Through Recovery, a local sobriety community asked me to make a video about What Recovery Means to Me. 

 

Five Year Update - The Words of My Mouth

Well, heck, it has been a while. I am fine. Really, things are good. We moved to Georgia, I got sober, went back to school and now work in IT for the local school district.

God has been good.

Recently we have been attending the local Unitarian Universalist Church. Last Sunday's service was devoted to discussion about Christianity and I spoke. Being able to address the congregation was a wonderful experience, but what was truly amazing was the process of putting into words things that I had never said before. Here is  what I said:

Five Years Ago today (March 19th, 2010)

 I didn't know what I had until it was gone.

Thank you, dear Creator, my Higher Power, God, Lord and Savior for giving me back my life.

Dear CIDP, a letter to my illness

Dear CIDP, Usually, when I think about what I would say to you if you were a person, it usually involves some anger-fueled profanity. But today, it is with gratitude that I think of you.

 "you probably think that I hold resentment for you
But uh uh, oh no, you're wrong
 'Cause if it wasn't for all that you tried to do,
 I wouldn't know Just how capable I am to pull through
So I wanna say thank you
'Cause it:
 Makes me that much stronger
Makes me work a little bit harder
It makes me that much wiser
So thanks for making me a fighter
Made me learn a little bit faster
Made my skin a little bit thicker
Makes me that much smarter
So thanks for making me a fighter"
(Yes, I know this is Christina Aguilera, but we have lots of stuff in common.)

March 19, 2014

To celebrate the four years that have passed since I got sick and went into the hospital I

-practiced standing unassisted on rocking boat in the ocean

-rented a bike and pedaled around the island of Key West.

-thanked God for doing for  me what I couldn't do for myself.

-thanked Him again for the people who held me up and for the ones that loved me when I couldn't.

Six Months

I got my six month chip today.  To celebrate, I am doing a Cut and Paste Blog:

Famous Beer Quotes!

Beer and the quotes it has helped create over the years...
I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the
morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day.
-Frank Sinatra
The problem with some people is that when they aren't drunk, they're sober.
-William Butler Yeats
An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools.
-Ernest Hemingway
Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.
-Ernest Hemingway
You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on.
-Dean Martin
Drunk is feeling sophisticated when you can't say it.
-Anonymous
No animal ever invented anything as bad as drunkenness - or as good as drink.
-G.K. Chesterton
Time is never wasted when you're wasted all the time.
-Catherine Zandonella
Abstainer: a weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure.
-Ambrose more...

source: http://www.jokebuddha.com/Sober#ixzz2ROjom9y7

Sunday Gratitude

In the last week I washed the car, mowed the lawn, trimmed the edges, moved a bunch of dirt, built another garden box and moved it, dusted the house and swept the floors.

I've been so busy trying to get this stuff done that I forgot it wasn't that long ago I couldn't do them.

The bill for this physical activity has been coming at night, when the cramps and spasms.  Poor Adrienne, the other night she woke up to me pleading, "Help me!"

It is easy to think that being pain-free is a right, when it is really a privilege.    Same for mowing the lawn and the other things I mentioned in the first paragraph.  I love that I can do these things, including having a rough, painful night without narcotics.

I feel so good right now.