The material presented
here is not Al-Anon Conference Approved Literature. It is a method
to exchange
information, ideas, feelings, problems and solutions on a personal
level.
Aloha Al-Anon Ohana and Mele Kalikimaka!! (family) (Merry Christmas)
It's abit after midnight this Christmas morning and the pups are surely waiting for Poppa to come to bed so they can snuggle. Two little gratitudes.
Just wanted to share that We spent the 21st, 22nd and part of the 23rd up at a local National Parks area 40 miles or some from home. Three miles up from the highway and 2500 or so feet above sea level where it was cool and quiet and very serene and spiritual. That's a gratitude!
Spent it with the adult children 3 sons and a daughter and 9 grandchildren (there are 12 in all with 2 more on the way!!) from what use to be a severely broken family from addiction. Wouldn't have even known it this weekend. Not much sign of it unless you looked real hard and no one was working at doing anything other than enjoying the whole event. God I am sooooo grateful for that progression from what it use to be like when they were 18 months to 9 years old. One day at a time...it works. We ate together, played together, prayed together and even slept in the same cabins together with no complaints other than a single spoken awareness that Grampa snores!! My denial had long since helped me forget. My wife however can dilute my denial very cleanly...but snore isn't the same as drunk. And another gratitude huh? We sang together!! Man was that a gratitude for me as the years have taken their toll on my ability to recognize sound and hear clearly. Memory is still intact and for that I am grateful as it helped me to recognize the song by words and then also the pitch. I remember all the musical stuff we use to do and we did it again. Progress!! Sitting with my present wife of a 19 year relationship! Now how it the world did that happen? Maybe our continuous membership and service in recovery has had much to do with that. I am grateful for the promises of our program fulfilled by coming back and working it. Awesome is such a lame description of what we all are a part of!! The food was soooo great!! My God they can all cook great and then the good part for me...my eating habits reduce when I am out camping. I was civil and restrained and that can confuse some of my recovering homies!!
My biggest gratitude? My Higher Power loves to get me off alone in some quiet place with little or no disturbances get my full attention with all the spiritual atmospheric and geographical magic that reveals to me how humbly small and important I am in His world. I am so small that if I were to rise above the camp ground by a mere half mile I would be as a grain of sand and yet His use of wind, mist, clouds, trees, land, moon, stars, birdsongs, ancient Ohia and other trees, ferns, forest growth and ground animals told me I wasn't alone; that I was surrounded by the spirits of those who have walked before my family and I and that we were family of it all. The lasting gratitude and daily gift of this creation that now has colors beyond black and white and shades of dull gray like the colors of when I was soul sick. Does anyone have appropriate words to express that gratitude? Mahalo Akua (Thank you God) are enough for God. I am always surprised as how little it takes to please Him. And I am grateful
Wonderful, I was with you in your expression of creation, and greatness and wholeness and family tolerance and togetherness and peace and appreciation. I hope that the wonder of it all stays with each and everyone of you in the months to come.
Shalom, as you say is a wonderfully poetic word and Mahalo Akua too for this beautiful world.
(((((Heartbroken)))))).
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"The highest form of wisdom is kindness." The Talmund
Jerry, your lovely post gave me a Christmas morning smile. Thank you for it. May this wonderfully magic season and the new year to come bring you and your loved ones happiness, health, and peace.
Diva
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"Speak your truth quietly and clearly..." Desiderata
That was incredibly beautiful. I can't imagine anything more glorious. My little piece of heaven here on earth is when I snuggle in bed with hubby and he's snoring. On the other side hogging all of my pillows and laying on my arm is Pipers Kitty who is gently purring. (Heaven forbid if I move my arm - out come the claws to gently remind me who owns the bed!) But I couldn't ask for anything more. There is so much to bre grateful for and it has NOTHING to do with material things. HP has surely blessed each and everyone of us. We just have to look for it. MERRY CHRISTMAS and a blessed, peaceful New Year. Much love and blessings to you and your family.
Live strong, Karilynn, Hubby and Piper Claus
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It's your life. Take no prisoners. You will have it your way.
Wow, Jerry, I wish I was one of your kids. What a beautiful time. I remember how my mother would always say to finish what was on my plate as there were kids in China starving (made NO sense what-so-ever) and I would think that they might be starving but I bet they had 2 parents who didn't scream at each other all the time. This Christmas I have made a conscious decision to be the parent I want to be. I am taking all those wonderful ideas I had when I gave birth to my kids and putting them into action. It isn't happening overnight, it is a process with alot of roadblocks and potholes, but I am doing it. This disease is no longer going to rule my life. I loved reading your post full of hope. I don't know what tomarrow holds for me and my kids but today, I can do it better. Thanks for the courage to keep moving forward!
Jerry - what a beautiful post full of hope. I especially loved the last part about when HP gets you out alone. HP does that for me sometimes, too, and those are the most beautiful and meaningful moments in my life. Thanks for sharing such a rich and personal glimpse into a world that's flowing with recovery.
Hawaii is one of my destinations in my journey called life. It was my mother's most favorite destination. I cannot wait to experience Hawaii and shall look you up when I get there.
Thank you for your friendship and support.
yours in recovery, Maria
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If I am not for me, who will be? If I am only for myself, then who am I? If not now, when?
Wouldn't have even known it this weekend.
Not much sign of it unless you looked real hard and no one was working at doing anything other than enjoying the whole event. God I am sooooo grateful for that progression from what it use to be like when they were 18 months to 9 years old.
One day at a time...it works.
We ate together, played together, prayed together and even slept in the same cabins together with no complaints other than a single spoken awareness that Grampa snores!!
Sitting with my present wife of a 19 year relationship! Now how it the world did that happen?
