The Long and Winding...

Road.

Have you ever had such a beautiful evening that you cannot possibly sleep? That happened to me last night. A beautiful dinner in a nearby mountain town and then a beautiful drive (see above) and an ice cream cone. Oh, it was so nice. And regardless of what time I get to sleep at night, I still wake up long before dawn in the morning. So, I now I have two nights in a row with about 4 hours of sleep each. I will have to take a long nap this afternoon.

My daughter moved into her own apartment yesterday. She and a fellow I got to meet at the International Convention last year came over and picked up the trunks she had stacked to the ceiling in my guest bedroom. She also took a few boxes out of the garage. It was wonderful to watch her open a few to see what was in them. She gasped with joy to see baby pictures of her daughters - that she thought she had lost. And some little clay sculptures she thought were gone forever. And some books. Photo albums. She said she would have her friend go through these boxes with her because she was sure there had to be "paraphernalia" among the treasures. I went through my closets and loaded up bags with soap, towels, rugs, dishes, bedding, etc. and brought them to her.

As I drove away from my happy sober daughter's own apartment, I was so overwhelmed, I called my sponsor. Well, we both ended up weeping together on the phone. It is a wonderful thing to watch someone's life turn around. My sponsor has been a part of this family for 17 years, so she has known my daughter since she was a young kid. She's real clear on what kind of miracle this is.

And then the recollection that her own daughter is serving a life sentence for murder.

This disease takes away everything. Everything.

But recovery gives us the ability to live lives we never dreamed of. God just waits for us to ask him. And he is very very patient.