Today is a good day, a very good day indeed

Today, my son celebrates three years as a person in recovery.   Also, and we didn't plan this, but it is kinda cool, I celebrate ten years as a person in recovery.  My son and I have the same anniversary date for when we quit using everything.   All of it.    To know my son is living a life in recovery is so fulfilling.  It is really a very calming feeling just thinking about it.  Being a person in recovery myself, knowing the craziness of active addiction, when Tyler was in active addiction, it was very stressful.  Many days spent full of worry.  Many nights without sleep.   Now, it is calming.   Knowing he is in recovery puts a smile on my face.   To my son, enjoy this day, you deserve it.    To be a family in recovery is amazing!   I will enjoy my own ten year anniversary by going to watch a young man who stayed with us last fall, while he finished his degree at CWU, be commissioned into the military as an officer.   I will be with Katrina, Cheba, and Daisy, on a little road trip.    One of my favorite things to do.    :)

Journal entry dated May 11, 2001:

"Well we are moved and in place in Ellensburg!  The town is great and the store is coming along well.  We found a nice little one bedroom with room for Kodi.  I found an excellent LPS to assist me in running a great LP dept.  We have a great management team at the store and we all get along well."

I had made the move.   After that call from Kevin, telling me about this place called "Ellensburg", we did it.  I will never forget the first time I drove through eburg.   Me, being from the city, I wasn't to impressed.  It was small.   Really small.   Stephanie was all in.   She had horses as a child and this could be an opportunity to get another horse.   Me, well, I wanted to be close to Tyler.   The distance was killing me.  

Also, as a Loss Prevention Manager, this was an opportunity to grow in that position.   Showing the company I was willing to relocate to a remote area, and the experience of opening a new store were both good.  I had been growing in the position over there by helping close down stores, so, this was a good fit.  Now I could get the experience of opening a new store.   Not long before this, the store that I started in (Lakewood), had closed and been torn down.  I was the last LPM in that store.   It was kinda neat to be where my journey started and be the one to shut it down.  

Our first place was a little duplex that sits on the corner of 15th and Water.  Not much on the outside, but had just been remodeled on the inside.   There was a yard for my dog Kodi and it was close to the store.  Literally, on the same street.   The commute was going to be nice.   Here we were, new city, new store, new opportunities.    Stephanie was able to come back and work for Fred Meyer temporarily as part of the move.   She would have to find other employment within six months. Due to my position in the store she was not able to work in the same store I was in and this was allowed due to her having to give up her job to move over here with me.  

When we made the move our relationship was rough.   She nearly didn't make the move.  We had been going through breaking up and getting back together multiple times prior to the move.   I almost made the move alone.    Somehow we managed to keep it together and when we initially moved we were together.  

After being here for a few months I decided to find an AA meeting to go to.  I had gone to AA meetings here and there while in Tacoma.  I wasn't a regular attender, mainly going during my anniversary months.   Also, after being here a few months I found a new counselor to get help with my ongoing massive anxiety and worry which would come out in bouts of depression.

I met people in AA meetings that are still my friends to this day.  At the time there was a transition happening in local meetings.  Kinda like the old guard transitioning out and the new guard transitioning in.  I won't name name but a few friends I met to keep their anonymity, but, there were several.  It was a good time for sure.   There was a lot of good stuff and....there was a lot of drama.  Just like any group, there is the good and the bad.  There was a group of us who got involved with the intent of improving things for the good of all.  I have a lot of good memories from this time period.   Several of my friends to this day are from those early days.   Katrina is one of them.   I met Katrina in those early days of my arrival to Ellensburg.  We would be friends for years before we even broached the topic of dating.   Sarah is another good friend I met in those early days.   To this day, Sarah is one of my closest friends.   A great person, who has since passed on, was Marv.    Marv was a good man, and, someone who would be like a father figure to me until his passing.   There are many others whom I am appreciative for all their support.    Although my recovery doesn't include AA in my life now, I am grateful for all I have been given while I was there.

Making the move, in regard to being close to Tyler, was going well.   By this time period, 2001-2001, he was 11-12yrs old.   We reconnected and were spending time together again.   It would be in his next couple years that he would start experiencing his own walk with drugs and alcohol.    I struggled with this a lot.   Mine and Cyndi's parenting styles were very different and as he hit pre-teens it really showed.    I, being a person in long term recovery at this time, had very strong boundaries surrounding certain behaviors.  Cyndi was much more relaxed in this regard.   She was living with her parents now and I know Tyler experienced a lot of confusion in her household.   Then, when he would come up to our place, things were different in what was allowed and not allowed.  I can imagine he struggled a lot with this.   Yet, we did the best we could.   Stephanie and I would go to her and her parents house frequently.    For birthdays, holidays, and other events.   I wanted Tyler to have his dad in his life regardless of my differences with Cyndi and her parenting style.

To close this blog out I want to share what was another monumental point as a person in recovery.    While working one day at Fred Meyer I received a phone call from the Washington State Crime Prevention Association.  They asked if I was David Douglas, I said I was......now, because of my past, even though years had passed by this point, I was thinking "oh crap, what now".....but, that isn't what it was.   They proceeded to tell me I had been nominated as a business of the year candidate for my crime prevention efforts.   I thought it was a joke.  I am a huge practical joker, so I thought someone was up to something.....but, not the case.   She said I had been nominated and was selected as business of the year for my efforts at the Ellensburg store.   I had been nominated by the Ellensburg Police Department and won the award for business of the year!!!  What?!!!   Me?!!!   How does that happen?!!!

Here's how.   Anytime a new store opens, literally, over 200 people are hired.   Ellensburg had never experienced this type of thing before.   For the majority of the employees hired it was great!  For some, it was an opportunity to steal.   In that first year we were open I caught over a dozen employees stealing from the store.   Additionally, we had those who would attempt shoplifting, they were caught also.   We were also able to assist the Ellensburg Police, because of the amazing camera system the store has, with cases of their own.  This caused us to have a good relationship with the Ellensburg Police Department.   I had enjoyed the work they did, and apparently, they the same in regard to my own.  Thus, the nomination and award.  

So, here I went, with an Ellensburg Police Officer (Steve Matthews) to an awards banquet where I was given an award by the Washington State Crime  Prevention Association, handed to me by the Governor, for my crime prevention efforts.  

#recoveryworksliveschange

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