Everywhere I go, I see something beautiful. I miss my hometown and home state of New Mexico, but living in Texas, I have found beauty in every place I go too. There are wildflowers everywhere in the hill country and when they bloom especially along the highways and in the middle, it never stops impressing me. Bluebonnets first, followed by orange indian paintbrush, purple daisies, yellow flowers of all kinds, some taller than all the others, white flowers, pink flowers, red flowers and multi-colored flowers. I haven’t learned all their names, musical sounding at times. There’s Hymenoxsys, Fall Aster, Esperanza, a wide rainbow of color that grows naturally here, or is planted. The Texas DOT boasts an impressive 30,000 pounds of native flower and grass seeds are sowed every fall. And they also plant carpets of green grass mixtures.
Then, there are the trees…..I wondered what besides love brought me here and I have discovered a new arborvitae fascination. Each tree is shaped with different limbs, branches, and leaves that seem to want to tell me a story…it’s really spiritual. I am taking so many photographs with the hope that someday I will have time to learn to sketch them all properly.
Then there’s my education and career. I am in the final phases of my second master’s degree. I am presently in my Pre-practicum phase of my MS in Addiction Counseling and am working at a ranch which is beautiful, which is all I can say about it. I am really enjoying my hands-on learning and have met some amazing people in the mental health and addiction recovery fields.
And finally, there’s my love, my relationship with an old flame that has grown into a partnership. We are different in many ways, but we also have learned some commonalities we can share, like for example, he is a good photographer and has taught me, and given me an iPhone 12 (I haven’t been an Apple girl since the 1990s), and my first real camera which is a Panasonic Luminix so I can take better distance photos. There are so many birds here, it’s like waking up in the jungle. Our home is across the street from a beautiful lake in a development built in a pecan orchard, so everywhere you drive there are trees on both sides of the street arching over toward each other like a tree tunnel. When the light hits it right at other times of the day, it is truly gorgeous! And that leads me to…
Gratitude and my own recovery. I can still do online meetings in my home state, as well as here (thanks to the pandemic). I have had both vaccinations, (Moderna) and did fine with the first one (hardly noticed it), but the second one took me down for a couple days like having a bad flu. I am happy to report that I am fine now, at peace, talked with my sponsor in NM, working three days a week, still in love, and grateful to my Higher Power for everything I experience.
Somehow, I want to help our society heal. Let’s calm down all the hate, and try to replace it with tolerance, love and forgiveness. Accept that we each are unique and walking a path that is ours to understand. The Creator has blessed us each with gifts, we should share them, even if it is just smiling at someone; that smile costs us nothing and it may impact someone else who really needs the connection.
Finally, I want to say today that in spite of the documentaries and fake news, the tragedy of the Opioid Epidemic is that we chose to take the drugs. Nobody forced them down our throat. We need to be accountable where we should. I am an advocate for pain relief. There are now cancer patients or others suffering in pain that should not be and who cannot get relief anymore due to changing restrictions. As far as Oxycontin goes, that is a highly seductive mistress who will entice you to fall in love with her, then enslave you and ruin your life every way possible.
If you are trapped in addiction, please, please, do not resist the impulse to ask for help. There are many people who are willing and able to help you break free. The feeling of liberation after getting clean, is indescribable. We forgot what happiness felt like and have to re-define it and experience it all over again. Or we never had it, and can experience it for the first time in a life free of drugs and alcohol. We get to take back control of our lives with the help of a Higher Power of our own choosing who truly loves us and believes in us and our growth. Don’t wait….
If you have anything you need to share, feel free to use the contact section of this site. Also, the owner of this account has set up a new secure email account to converse with those who wish to talk with me. The address is: recoveryhope@protonmail.com Feel free to reach out.
In the interim, peace, love and blessings to all who read this….
NMRecoveryHOPE 