My youngest daughter hosted the event and family and friends showed up from all over. Several came from California. My favorite (and only) niece flew from Reno. One friend was here from Ohio. And there were several friends and relatives from Arizona. There were more than 30 guests in attendance.
We had a bounce house for the kids. Games for the adults. A photo booth.
There was plenty of food for everyone. Street tacos. Colombian empanadas. Cake pops. Plus a decadent chocolate cake.
It was a wonderful event and I'm so happy that everyone showed up to celebrate my eighth decade on the planet.
Perhaps the most amazing thing to me is that I've survived for 80 years. There was a time when I was much younger, probably around 35, that I didn't expect to live to be 40 years old. And that wasn't because something was physically wrong with me. The problem was my alcoholism and drug addiction and lifestyle.
When I finally got sober at around 51 years old I began to take better care of myself in all respects. I start exercising every day. I turned into a vegetarian and later became a vegan. I learned to meditate, and later become certified as a mindfulness instructor.
I lived in a treatment program for a year. After I left that treatment program I started my own halfway house network, which has now been in business some 27 years.
During my last 28 years of recovery, I've been through many challenges that at one time would have gotten me drunk or high. But because of my participation in the recovery field and 12 step meetings I've been able to take things pretty much in stride. I've gone through two costly divorces. I've overcome cancer. A new drug came on the market that got rid of my hepatitis C, which I had carried for 30 some years – before they even had a name for it. Back in the day, they used to call it non-A non-B hepatitis.
Since I got sober I've become successful in the recovery field. I'm blessed to be able to help a lot of people get sober. However, it's not something I do by myself; I have a wonderful circle of friends and business associates who do the hard work of dealing with 850 clients.
Since I've had gray hair since I was in my late twenties, I've always been the "old guy." So now that I really am the old guy I'm not at all sensitive about it. I'm just grateful to be relatively healthy and fortunate to still be alive and functional. And that's something that I really owe to my 28 years of sobriety.
