DOING THE NEXT RIGHT THING AND FOLLOWING YOUR INNER VOICE

HI-This post makes no sense without reading the previous post. Mark is so early in his recovery that he still is not able to deal with his European family. My gut was right in sending the lovely letter to his parents, his dad was very happy to hear good news and responded as follows. His first sentence describes what true recovery as a family feels like. It is a wonderful miracle that we are all grateful for everyday.

Dear Mark, Hunter, and Family,

I was very happy to receive your news. Mark is recovering, you seem calmer and your son is starting to fulfil his potential.

It also brought a tear to my eyes as I realised how much I miss seeing my grandson growing up.

Ask Mark to tell him about our sporting activities when they were young. Swimming on Sunday morning with Frank Anthony and Nigel, with football on the green afterwards. Walking to the swimming pool which was about four miles. We had great fun.

Then various sports on the Grange the large sports field behind our house in Peterborough. Football Cricket Dads versus lads we had a great time.

Mark's elder brother was an excellent runner and played Rugby,Mark was good at football and Cricket and Mark and his younger brother did canoeing,they travelled all over the country to find White Water.

We also went out most weekends as a family, usually to the seaside or a park and always ended up playing some kind of sport. I remember Mark's elder brother never liked being out at cricket and would sulk if he was not allowed to bowl straight away.

Now is the time to make the most of your wonderful town it has everything for a young family and should be enjoyed, When your son leaves home you will be a long time on your own so make the most of it now!!

We are going to Guernsey at the end of April for two weeks. Mum must have her annual check and we both need to see our Doctor. We will then return via Mark's elder brother's and spend a week there. We are both looking forward to it very much.

Scott is handling his problems really well, he has now had seven sessions of chemo therapy and although the side effects are nasty he seems to be dealing with it and is going to work three or four days a week.

Lots of Love,

Dad, Granddad.

PS We have seen a scan of the baby!!

I am so glad that I sent the letter and will continue to do so. Mark went to 4 AA meetings today. He has a horrible disease and I am proud of him doing whatever it takes to stay sober..He is 100 days today.

I had an interesting day too. As earlier posts have indicated I have been very frustrated at my inability to find full time work and frustrated at my part time job. Well, today I was asked to send my resume to a division manager at my company so that she could try to find an opening for me in a full time position. I waited until the end of the day to send her the information and frankly I think I surprised her when I went to her office to say thank you for thinking of me.....

This simple lesson of gratitude is one that I was taught growing up and one that I have had reinforced during my experience with addiction and recovery in my family. To this point I also thanked the rabbi and religious school teacher for a wonderful evening the other night and for all their hard work educating our kids...Amazing they both thanked me for thanking them and shared with me that few people acknowledge the good and instead focus on the things to complain about...Life is too short not to find the good. I guess this is the good that has come from our experience in addiction and the miracle of recovery. I pray we keep finding the good and that we experience continued good health.

Hunter