Lucky?

When my staff heard I was flying to Mexico with my wife to spend eight nights in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico one commented that we’re “lucky.” And, to an extent I agree.

But because I sometimes like to split semantic hairs, I prefer “blessed.” And I never forget the source of the blessings: a generous God who's allowed me to live clean and sober for 22+ years.

For much of my life – between drug runs and stints in jail – I’ve been able to build businesses and accumulate stuff. Getting material things together hasn't been a challenge. Not because I’m smart, but because I’m driven by early memories of an alcoholic home life where every kid in our farming community seemed better off – both materially and emotionally.

The challenge, though, had been to keep anything once my heroin addiction and alcoholism kicked in. It’s one thing to gather stuff. It’s another to keep it through the high cost of heroin, lawyer’s fees, divorces, and jail terms.

Today, though, I have the guidance of the 12-steps. Many sober friends. A sober wife. And the benefits of working in the recovery field for over twenty years.  All these things add up to living a balanced life, something of which I only once dreamed.

So, call it “lucky, if that’s what it looks like. But I like “blessings,” because it reminds that the good in my life flows from the Creator who granted me another chance at recovery - and not as the result of a cosmic roll of the dice.