I knew the reason I hadn't seen him is because he'd relapsed. At least that was the message he sent back to his home group. And that's something I usually believe because people don't spread lies about themselves when they start using again.
As soon as I saw him I knew the story was true. He had lost about 50 pounds or more. Plus he had that beat down look we get when we start using every day.
He started apologizing to me and I politely cut him off. Because there's nothing to apologize about when our disease creeps back into our lives. The Big Book speaks on the subject in several chapters.
At one time I wrote a number of blogs about this guy because he'd done a lot to turn his life around. The major thing he did was go to college to work on a counseling degree. For him it was a major accomplishment because he mostly was raised in the 'hood and various prison yards. He was an example to all of us.
I really admired him because he'd changed his life's path and put in a lot of effort to reach his goals. In any event, I welcome him back and was happy to see him heading once more in the right direction.
And even though he'd relapsed I still respected him because he had the courage to come back and start over.
