Weird, Wild and Wonderful 

(Blind Boys of Alabama Transition)

Weird, wild and wonderful – that was what I was thinking as I stood on the football field at Norwalk Junior High School in 1983, waiting for my high school graduation ceremony to begin.  As in, “I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but I hope it is weird, wild and wonderful.”  

All I knew for certain was that after a summer working on the county road crews, I would leave the house I grew up in on Main St. and begin attending Miami University. I had no plans — just wishes, hopes, and maybe a prayer. 

Introduction to a book I will never write - Warm Bodies (2013)

Introduction

Early spring of 2013, I was sitting in a movie theater and as the lights came up, tears began running down my face. I didn’t know why, but the movie we just watched touched me in a place I didn’t know needed touching.  

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.