FridayOctober 24, 2014

Life on Life's Terms

Getting along

That night we parked in the driveway and walked through the garage.  We could hear the kids laughing like hyenas in the basement.  They must not have heard the garage door because neither of them scurried to clean up their mess.

"Having fun?" I asked as I walked into the basement.  They were lying on the floor, watching TV, their bodies outlined in spilled popcorn like chalk lines at a crime scene.

They both looked at me, looked at each other, then looked at the floor.  Then they laughed for another solid minute.  I wanted to be angry, but I couldn't.  I was too grateful for their happiness and that they got along so well.

"Clean this up," I said trying to sound stern, but not succeeding.  The kids tried not to laugh, which made them, and my wife, laugh even more.

"You heard him, Brat Boy," my daughter said, "You clean this up!"

"He was using small words," my son said.  "He must have been talking to you!"  It took another ten minutes to get them to stop laughing and to start cleaning.

Today I will be grateful for people who get along.

Life on Life's Terms (c) 2014 by Ken Montrose 

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Working Supportively with Families and Significant OthersOctober 29, 2014 at Kerr Presbyterian Church in Verona9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m$50 payable in advance, at the door, or by invoice after the training
This five hour training is accredited for:

• Addiction Counselors by the Pa. Certification Board

• Nurses by the PSNA #101-1-O-14

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Other Blogs

AArdvarks, a daily messages blog about a group of young people in recovery, can be found at: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/7231388-once

RPG

Discounting the positive

The next day at work I heard from The Other Ken – I had started working there first and considered myself the only true Ken - that nobody in the group had a dirty urine.  When Roger passed by my office, I yelled, "Heard you're still clean and sober!"

Roger stuck his head into my office and smiled, but said, "Yeah, but I wanted to get high."

"But you didn't," I said.

"And I'm still deeply in debt."
            "And you're still clean," I argued.

"And everyone still hates me."

I shook my head, and said, "And you didn't drink or do coke."  Roger amazed me with his stubborn refusal to accept the positive.

Today I will not discount the positive.

Relapse Prevention Group (c) 2014 by Ken Montrose