January 4th, 2021
Before I begin with this new, this first post in this new year, I just want to mention that I have switched names, I blogged all last year using the domain name of grandmasinrecovery.com and it can still be accessed for a while until I move all the files over to this domain. I felt that name was too confining to the audience I’d like to reach, which is anyone and everyone in recovery from drug addiction (alcohol is a drug) and people in recovery who may want to hear from those of us dealing with families in recovery. Last year also ended up having a lot of how we were navigating the year of Covid19 while trying to maintain our family and recovery. It was a rough year as we all know. But now, I am looking to a new year and very hopeful with a new domain/blog page. I hope to gain a much bigger audience and interaction. We all need feedback on these topics. I am not an authority on life or recovery and don’t pretend to be. I am however, over 35 years clean and in recovery with a whole lot of life experience. I am raising my sweet little grandson due to his parents addictions. This is more of an exchange of ideas place, not an authority. I have worked in the filed of addictions and recovery for years and I have been teaching drug & alcohol classes at our local college for over twenty years as well. I’ve sponsored many women and still do, from many different backgrounds. I love them all and treasure my time with helping other addicts. I am a certified drug counselor and also I was an elementary teacher in a title 5 school for over 22 years. Which means I have worked with many students and their parents who suffer from the effects of addiction. I continue to teach the college classes online and enjoy it immensely. I hope you enjoy these blogs and we can interact. Thank-you for visiting and may God bless you all and keep you well as we travel this road of recovery and wellness.
Onward & Upwards
I’ve heard several people say that even though 2020 was pretty horrible, they did experience some good things. Like, having a baby, getting married, graduating, getting a new job, a new boyfriend, girlfriend, friend, car, house – reaching a personal goal, like weight loss (wish that was my story) finding forgiveness, learning a new language or instrument. There have been many successful things in the last year as well, yet, we’ve never seen anything like the year we all just had.
That’s why onward and upward is my creed, my code- right now. I see the light at the end of the tunnel, I am going to opt for the eternal optimist attitude right now and list some positives I see.
The first being, the vaccine, no matter if you plan to take it or not, it’s still a good thing for our country, for our planet. It will start slowing the virus down, hopefully by summer we see a big drop in numbers. I find so much hope and joy in that.
Next, we still have our faith and our clean time and we are building on both, this is indeed a hopeful and joyful thing. My husband had 36 years clean yesterday, on the 3rd. If you only knew what he used to be like before he got clean, whew whee! What a miracle and a gift he is to all of us. From where we come from to now is no small feat, it has been achieved one day at a time. One problem at a time, one feeling at a time, one meeting at a time and so on. I am so proud of him, he is my everything, God has certainly blessed me with my husband.
Also, we have our sweet little grandson, we are keeping him safe and well and he is growing into an awesome kid. His trip this Fall showed me just how much I really love him. I am so grateful to have him here with us. Safe.
I am grateful and hopeful for all my kids and grandkids. They are all awesome, beautiful people and have grand plans, desires and dreams of their own. I love that! I have other family that is deep in my heart as well, nieces and nephews and of course my siblings. I have some incredible sponsees and friends that are pure joy and truly having them in my life is a gift from God.
So much to look forward to going into the new year, I have a list of dreams and schemes I hope to accomplish. I have always said that I need a goal to look forward to, that’s just how I tick. When I was new, it was the thirty-day chip, then sixty, ninety… a year and then five years and then graduate from college, get ten or fifteen years clean.
Back then I had it in my head to go ahead and drink sociably after I graduated with my B.S. and my grand plan was to try to stay clean until I had twenty years clean. But a funny thing happened on the way to planning a real life, a productive, self-supporting life. I was learning to live life on life’s terms, not mine and all of a sudden there were more goals to look forward to, all the way up to retirement. Then… then I would just drink sociably – lol, lol. But by then, God, in His infinite wisdom, gave us this little boy to raise. 😊 Perhaps this was divine intervention?
I love it, I love that my God cares for me that way. But I also have other more personal goals (and yes that weight thing is among them). I look forward to this year ahead. I look forward to the healing and renewal of our country, our world, our lives.
I am even down right excited as I think about all this. I hope you are too. I know we have a lot of grieving and healing to do. But I believe we can heal. We are a resilient people.
I would suggest you make a list of what you look forward to, your goals for the upcoming year and your dreams, no matter how far fetched you think it sounds, put it down, dream on it, next thing you know, you might be making plans!
Question of the Week: What are you looking forward to in 2021?
