This is my Mary here in the Yucatan.
The title above is kind of a half-truth. I am Mary (Come on, surely by now you've figured out that my real name is Mary), but I'm still working on the full of grace part.
I removed my previous "negative ad" but I want to thank all of you for your very caring and concerned comments. It means a lot. I want to assure everyone that I have had no urge to drink, if anything the exact opposite, witnessing the effects of alcohol on others and seeing a person you love transform on a daily basis into someone that you cannot tolerate, does a pretty convincing job of proving to me that booze is the last thing I want these days.
I'm grateful for that.
It seems for the last two weeks all I've been able to concentrate on, waste my energy on, sacrifice my joy for is the one negative aspect of my life right now. I need to shift my focus to those things that are good in my life.
There are so many.
I've noticed that a lot of people are doing the daily gratitude thing for the month of November and I think I need to catch up. Today is November 8 so here are 8 things I am grateful for.
1. I am grateful for my sobriety, which is like a new gift I get to open every morning and which without I would be having a hard time coming up with 8 things to be grateful for this afternoon and not a single one of them would be possible, they'd still be desperate prayers.
2. I am grateful for a husband who if I turned to him right now and said, "I think I'd like to become an astronaut" he'd say, "Go for it. You can do it. What do you need from me?"
3. I am grateful for a phone call from my youngest son who says he can't wait to see me at Christmas. He misses me.
4. I am grateful that once again people have confidence in me, and more importantly, that I have confidence in myself.
5. I am grateful for friends and family that have loved me through my lost years and still love me.
6. I am grateful that once again I have something to give others that is valuable and that I am proud of. Myself.
7. I am grateful for my parents that gave me a strong faith in God and love, I wouldn't have made it through without it or them.
8. I am grateful for those that went before me, those that walk along side me, and those that follow me on this tortuous journey, you keep me on the path.
Love you guys,
A very Grateful, but not entirely graceful, Kary/Mary
I'm grateful that I found you!
ReplyDeleteI love Mary. Being Catholic we talk about her a lot. She is one tough lady. Imagine being the mother of GOD! Imagine having to dicipline Him, spank Him or yell at Him for leaving his sandals where someone could trip on them. When I'm praying motherhood or strictly women's prayers, I go straight to her.
Enjoy your space and your gratitude. You've earned it.
Sherry
Great to hear from you. And it's lovely that you are seeing the lovely positive things about the Cap'n. He does sound like an awesome bloke. I can only imagine the frustration that you must feel that he doesn't want to get sober... I have the same thing with my mother (I don't ever write about it on my blog should she read it one day).. I see so clearly how her heavy wine consumption is totally getting in her way I would love to see her get sober and experience what I have. I feel so frustrated and sad that she doesn't want to. I would love for her to realise like I has what a crutch and bloody hinderance that heavy drinking is..but right now she's deep in her addiction and if only I could flick a switch in her brain so that she would join us on this sober path. I can only hope and in the meantime keep showing that a sober life is possible and totally fine, better even. You're doing great. You're awesome .... you are. xxx
ReplyDeleteHey girl, sorry I missed your last post? I unplugged a little bit there before my run. I wish there was an easier way to follow blogger from wordpress, ugh. Do you have an email option like Sherry? I'll look...
ReplyDeleteI love the tone of this message though. Some days are just going to suck, and nothing we do will make them suck less. But I do find the more I try to keep focusing on the "good stuff" or the "gratitude stuff", the faster I can bounce back from the low times. It's like our attitudes need exercise too, and they get stronger with practice. We just have to make sure we are practicing and exercising it toward the light and not the dark. Even in my crappy moods, it helps when I think about things I'm grateful for and how much life has changed for the better. It may not snap me out of my mood, but it helps bring me out of it faster.
Geez, I hope that makes sense. I think I just rambled on and on, but I wrote it for you, so I'm gonna go with it. :)
I hope today finds you well my friend. Winning is rising every time you fall. Get up. Get up and win that race. xoxo