my daily reflections…

i love this mornins daily readin! it really encapsulates the change that those in recovery get to experience when they make the decision to live the change it offers from desperation to a whole life. the storys ive been able to experience, includin my own, are not ordinary, by any sense. this mornin im still in shock over the passin of a friend i met in recovery. i came to know this young man when he became a resident at the halfway house i was a member of the board of directors on. he didnt get it the first time and got to suffer through many relapses. but each time, he came back to the rooms because each time he knew within, the importance and gravity of the disease he was sufferin from. each time he learned more about himself, he took what he learned and applied it so he could get the best understandin he could about himself and his disease. as i watched his struggles, as i spoke with him, and told of my story, he would share his struggles with me. we would go to things outside of the rooms, like nascar races, and other events. even when the pandemic hit in 2020, and there were no “in person” meetins, he made a space in his garage and a few of us would have meetins there. in meetins i would listen to him and take what he would share and apply it to my life. he was an example of the story of this great programs perseverance and integrity. today as i write this, far away from the place i knew him geographically, i miss him. idk if he ever knew the impact he had on my life as we talked and shared of the many experiences we had. how he taught me about me. i cannot be there for his funeral, for his wife, or for his friends and family, in and out of recovery, but i am there in spirit. today i get to pass on the love he had in his eyes and story of his recovery as i knew it from my perspective. i get to share, as best as i can, what he meant to me. im proud to call him my friend. im proud to know that he passed livin what recovery taught him. my friend tony was no ordinary success story, his life was a story of the hope recovery can give someone, just like me. 1 day @ a time...