"X" marks the spot
Today I am grateful for bananas, blueberries, and oatmeal. I am also grateful to all the people who helped bring those foods to my breakfast.
"X" can be a bit of a challenge on these A-Z lists, but I have been considering "X" marks the spot the last few days. Places where I drank and the places I have known and worked on recovery. They are both numerous.
I did most of my drinking in northeast Iowa. I'll leave the details out, but those places included gravel roads, vehicles, farm fields, historical locations, houses with absent parents, and eventually the more "civilized" places like local bars.
"X" marked the spot of laughs and good memories with good friends, but also of a progressive illness that had me in a steel grip. More places became marked with despair and blackouts, with hangovers, with the concern and sometimes disgust of others.
My recovery also began in northeast Iowa. When I return to my home area, the recovery places lift me more than the drinking places drag me down. My recovery has continued to central Iowa, and then to northwest Iowa. The Spencer and Okoboji areas will always be very dear to me. It is there that this stubborn intellectual actually began working true recovery. It has made all the difference and it continues to this day.
From northwest Iowa, to South Dakota, and now, for the last 19 years, Minnesota, "X" marks the spot where other recovering people have shown me the way. Where supportive family and friends have encouraged me in ways they may never know. Where I have grown and maintained a loving relationship with a Great Spirit, and with myself.
"X" also marks the inner places of a heart, soul, mind, and spirit that know some peace, that look forward to a new day.
"X" can be a bit of a challenge on these A-Z lists, but I have been considering "X" marks the spot the last few days. Places where I drank and the places I have known and worked on recovery. They are both numerous.
I did most of my drinking in northeast Iowa. I'll leave the details out, but those places included gravel roads, vehicles, farm fields, historical locations, houses with absent parents, and eventually the more "civilized" places like local bars.
"X" marked the spot of laughs and good memories with good friends, but also of a progressive illness that had me in a steel grip. More places became marked with despair and blackouts, with hangovers, with the concern and sometimes disgust of others.
My recovery also began in northeast Iowa. When I return to my home area, the recovery places lift me more than the drinking places drag me down. My recovery has continued to central Iowa, and then to northwest Iowa. The Spencer and Okoboji areas will always be very dear to me. It is there that this stubborn intellectual actually began working true recovery. It has made all the difference and it continues to this day.
From northwest Iowa, to South Dakota, and now, for the last 19 years, Minnesota, "X" marks the spot where other recovering people have shown me the way. Where supportive family and friends have encouraged me in ways they may never know. Where I have grown and maintained a loving relationship with a Great Spirit, and with myself.
"X" also marks the inner places of a heart, soul, mind, and spirit that know some peace, that look forward to a new day.
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