Demut

So last evening at this relapse treatment program meeting I was at, a guy graduated after having been in the program for six months. This guy has a criminal record that requires a ream of copy paper. Countless stays in jail and prison, successfull and not-so-successful escapes from the police and a very sad disheartening childhood (no surprise). He has been in-patient treatment twice and obviously has lost his license numerous times. His DOC - alcohol. Not clear on what he does for a living, but he's a blue collar worker who shows up at our 6pm meeting having driven right from work, hands full of grease, and clothes worn and dirty from a hard days work. I'm gonna say he is about 30ish. Mondays we have family night and I have had the priviledge of meeting his wife and children and observing how they interact. He is just about the proudest father I have ever been around! When he shares in group he invariably brings up a subject related to what one of his darlings had done the night before. He has learned that a family activity everyone enjoys is snowmobiling and he has purchased a sled for everyone. Last weekend they were up north and put on 600 miles on Saturday. He kept asking his kids if they wanted to stop and he had so much fun sharing how they always responded to keep going. I write this because upon first meeting him, you would not expect him to be the kind of guy who likes kittens and small kids - ya know what I mean.
Anyhow, lol, what I wanted to share was this. He told us last night that he had been in and out of recovery, treatments etc., and only in these last six months has he "gotten it"
And I love this because it is one of those paradox' of recovery ~ so incredibly simple, yet, so dam hard to get.
He said when I finally stayed in the day and told myself, "I'm staying sober today, I can do this today",, only then did he finally figure it out. He said if he feels the urge to crack a beer a nine am, he'll tell himself, "noon, I'll have one at noon." And lunch would come and go because the urge had been lifted.

This guy had a dry sense of humor and shot straight from the hip. But, man did he make me laugh!! Honesty as I have never seen. I'm so going to miss his presence and what he brought to group, his insight he readily shared and his obvious commitment to being the best dad there ever was!!
~d

Kablume

Thanks for sharing that story. It shows how important it is for us not to judge others. If we do, we might just miss watching a flower grow!

newby1961

Morning, and 1st I want to say I love that quote about the storm and learning to dance in the rain. Sometimes I seem to get more from people's quote's than any of the posts lol not really. I love newcomers because they remind me that if I get back to basics like living in the here and now I can stay sober. My story is similiar to that guys, other than I'm a women, no kids but, I spent many a year's in & out. For me I just had to reach the point where enough was enough. I got sick and tired of being sick an tired. My sponsor used to tell me that I was doing the 1st step all that time just the hard way. Thanks for sharing that story. Keep the Faith Judy M