my daily reflections…

yesterday, i was blessed to give a eulogy for a friend i had met in my recovery. she was not an addict or alcoholic, but i had met her family through another member of our great program. this friend of mine who passed was someone who did not care if i was an alcoholic or an addict. what made our friendship so great was that she accepted me for who and what i am. every year for 14 years, her husband, her, and i camped at every nascar race at michigan international speedway. over those years we became very close friends. without her even knowin it she carried with her, and lived, the principles i had to learn in recovery. what i find so amazin is that she, her husband, and her children were people that, though may have been able to have a drink, did not do that while we camped out. here we were in the middle of two of the biggest beer drinkin whip lash bashes that michigan has, two weekends of the year, and we still partied and rocked out like every other campsite. i share this story with ya’ll because i am an alcoholic in recovery. i share this story with ya’ll because i find in recovery, the same kind of people that doug and deb are. i find in recovery a group of people who may be alike in their disease and stick together because of the common solution we strive to obtain, another day without a drink. just like deb and doug never excluded me, the fellowship of recovery hasnt either. though i may be one, i am never alone; i am one of many. i as one can help another as ive been helped and shown, a way so i aint gotta depend on alcohol, i can depend on my trusted friends in recovery, and even those who are not in the program. with honesty i get to build relationships that are filled with forgiveness, hope, and love. as i live my recovery balance, followed by responsibility, i get to give and take. i get to share as i receive. its what we do. i cant do this alone, i need others, whether they are in recovery or not. as i accept the love of God and pledge to show respect to everyone i meet, i get to experience tradition 1, the strength of unity. 1 day @ a time...