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Weavings from 2013 classes at Richmond Art Center with Stacy Speyer. |
Hanging past the curtain rod and draping over the couch lasted only until Burp got here the next morning and decided that they looked like Fun Toys !~! Yikes, as KarenT would say. Meet Karen, blog readers; she's appeared in these pages before and today takes us with her to swim next to a dolphin during a cruise to the south Caribbean.
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| Who is kissing her ?~! Karen meets a dolphin up close. |
Between weekends working in the ER at the local hospital and the rest of the time a partying fool, I stayed busy altho not out of trouble. Driving while blacked out under the influence was a near-nightly occurrence and it is only by sheer luck that I am here to tell the stories I don't recall. I should, by all rights, be either dead or in jail for behaving that way. Honored to report that I have been clean and sober for nearly thirty years.
It was on a flight from here in the Bay Area back to Key West in Feb of 1984, while trying again to remember what I had done the night before that I decided to quit drinking. The steward had already sold me a bottle of vodka and a can of grapefruit juice when it occurred to me that if I didn't do something quickly I may not have a future worth thinking about. Motioning to the same steward who had sold me the untouched bottle, I asked him to take it back. His response: that he was unable to refund my two bucks. The least of my worries at that instant in time. I drank my can of grapefruit juice, silently and solidly waved good-bye to alcohol and began an entire new lifestyle.
One of the mainstays of my sobriety has been Karen (with that dolphin up there). Never a drinker herself she stood by me thru my recovery and into the decades since. Living on opposite sides of this large continent presents its own problems, but with all the accoutrements of modern living we keep in touch quite closely. Trekking back and forth over the years since I moved here in 2000, we have each seen the Grand Canyon, high desert, Las Vegas, the mighty Mississippi River, Rockie Mountains, wheat and soybean fields, and oil derricks by the thousands over Texas and Oklahoma: much more of the country by air than we will ever be able to see by road in this lifetime. My friend, my sister, my soulmate; I am incredibly fortunate to have a soulmate and a husband-such a rare and wonderful situation.
Best decision of my life-bar none. I slept thru a lot of my off time in the next few years and continue to use sleep as the therapeutic it is meant to be as well as the escape from situations that would have been riotous in my past. When I am feeling overwhelmed, anxious or tending to out-of-control I find that a nap restores my balances: physical, emotional and psychological better than any other form of treatment. Exercise has its place too and I try to get enough to keep myself limber and toned but I have been blessed with a physique that does not require hours a day of maintenance or long runs in the parks to keep functioning. Yoga has been a life saver for me and the Littles. We practice together and learn how to calm ourselves from the inside outward.
One of the mainstays of my sobriety has been Karen (with that dolphin up there). Never a drinker herself she stood by me thru my recovery and into the decades since. Living on opposite sides of this large continent presents its own problems, but with all the accoutrements of modern living we keep in touch quite closely. Trekking back and forth over the years since I moved here in 2000, we have each seen the Grand Canyon, high desert, Las Vegas, the mighty Mississippi River, Rockie Mountains, wheat and soybean fields, and oil derricks by the thousands over Texas and Oklahoma: much more of the country by air than we will ever be able to see by road in this lifetime. My friend, my sister, my soulmate; I am incredibly fortunate to have a soulmate and a husband-such a rare and wonderful situation.
My Heart Reaches to New York
My sweet friend, Lizzy, is burying her father today. Words are inadequate to express what I feel; so I will borrow: All who go, go too soon. Saying good-bye to fifteen of my friends and family in the last half dozen years has shown me the truth in that statement so clearly. I hold you up, Lizzy, to the Universal Healing Power and hope that time will soothe what reason fails to explain.
Namaste, father of my friend.
This is a heavy post. When I first started reading, I thought I would be commenting about your weavings. By the end, I was amazed at how you changed your life. You deserve the peace you have found.
ReplyDeleteThank you my friend, it has been a journey-like everyone else's in some respects and perhaps unique in others. A continual learning experience.
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