FYI, I write this Gratitude blog for two reasons. One is to write every day about things I am
grateful for. The second is to let my
sister Karen know what I am doing. The
very act of writing is a accurate indicator that I am sober.
Lea, Michelle and I celebrated a nice pleasant Thanksgiving today.
We went to our usual 9:30 AM meeting.
It was the usual size with a different crowd including visitors from New
Zealand and San Francisco. The topic was
the 11th tradition discussion a program of attraction and not promotion. It was a great meeting.
Lea got her new dentures to fit better yesterday. Some denture adhesive later, they were
finally working for her. She is very
pretty with her dentures in. It changes
the shape of her face and especially her lips.
We came home, put a 7 pound boneless rib roast in the oven and went to
a see a movie at Lincoln Square. The
movie times had changed from what I looked up last night and so the movie we
planned on seeing, Gravity, was not for another hour. We watched Philomena. It is true story
of Irish convent selling children of unwed Catholic mothers to Americans in the
1950s. Michelle and Lea are estranged
from their children due to their addiction.
Understandably, the movie was a serious tearjerker for them.
After the movie, the roast was done a bit sooner than planned. The girls made stuffing, béarnaise sauce, Brussels
sprouts with garlic, baked sweet potatoes, bean casserole, dinner rolls, and fruit
salad. It was delicious. Before eating, we all said a few things we were
grateful for. We were all grateful to be
sober. After dinner and dishes, we
watched TV for an hour and then had cherry pie and vanilla ice cream. It was nap time for me. They watched Lethal Weapon 1.
We went to the alcathon at the Alano club. The topic was acceptance. It seemed like 10 people in a row shared
about being in their first week of sobriety and gave their drunkalog about how
bad it was. Normally, I greatly dislike listening
drunkalogs rehashing their using and prefer to be in the solution. Tonight was a profoundly different
experience, It was like they were doing
their first step story about being powerless over alcohol (and drugs) and how unmanageable
their lives were. Today they had hope
that there was a solution in AA and that their lives would get better by
working AA’s 12 steps.
Nancy and Michelle P came to the alcathon while Lea was outside having
a cigarette. They had both been her
sponsor for a couple months earlier this year and quit after she kept
relapsing. After the meeting, Lea went
over, gave them both a hug, showed them her new teeth and presumably reported
on having a new sponsor and 7 weeks of sobriety. I am sure they were both very happy for her.
It is Michelle’s 46th birthday in two weeks. For the last 9 years, she has been locked up
on her birthday. As a way of spreading
out the birthday celebration, I offered to take them on a mini Black Friday
shopping trip at Target. Kelly and Sarah
reported full parking lots at Target in Redmond and craziness at Bell Square
with a line of people waiting to get into
Macy’s. We bagged the shipping trip and
came home.
I have a wonderful recovery family with Leslee, Toni, Charlie, Greg,
Sandy and others. Michelle and Lea are like
the little sisters I never had. It is an
honor and a privilege to help and watch them get a life in recovery. There was no acrimony today and we enjoyed
the best Thanksgiving we have had in a long time. I never felt an awkward silence once today.
This was the first Thanksgiving meal that I ever planned, purchased and
hosted in my life. Family holiday meals
were all too often fraught with discord and dismay. I am glad we made dinner today.
I am grateful for the acceptance, serenity and joy in my life today.
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