Last year it was about Bob and his moment. As you all know, I’m a recovering alcoholic. I celebrated twenty three years of sobriety on November 21st. That was the day I drank my last alcoholic beverage, smoked or took any drugs.
I’m thankful to be alive to live and be at peace with myself. The stroke I suffered in 2002 was a wake-up call I don’t want repeating. It’s what eventually inspired me to get back into writing, hoping that maybe one day I would be financially secure.
In the meantime, I adjusted and overcame. I relearned to do my writing one handed and not my naturally born dominant hand. I used to be left handed before my stroke, now I do most everything right handed.
I found love with a woman that I later married. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for us, but if nothing else she pointed me in the right direction, morally and spiritually. I met her children and am thankful for that too.
I live and survived my lowest point. In recovery counselors will tell the alcoholics and addicts that grace their presence that there are three choices we all make: death, jail, prison or psychological institutions, or recovery.
There is no middle ground. That was my first mistake after my first stint in county jail. I had this belief in immortality, and was proved wrong in 2002, almost dead wrong.
I’ll always be in recovery. I can’t ever fall off the wagon unless I make that choice to just go and die. But, why would I do something when life and living life is so much more meaningful and fulfilling? My moral compass is pointed in the right direction now. My beliefs in who I am and what I stand for are solid as a concrete pedestal. My passion for my friends and family are unwavering.
I’m thankful for everything under the sun, the moon and the universe and thank God I’m alive to write this to my loyal readers.
Jerry Schellhammer 