Novella

For the Best

The next day I got hit with a flood of people needing last minute training hours.

The best I could do was write a short blog entry and get started.

My mood sank as about all the things I had needed to do that day.

“Gotta let it go,” I said. “This is the best I can do today.”

 

Today I’ll do the best I can do and let it go.

 

Novella is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

•                     www.greenbriartraining.com  

•                     https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

#addictionawareness #dailymessage #inspiration #odaat #recoveryposse #recoveryispossible

 

Fawlty Showers 2

 

Adapt

“You know what scares me?” she asked, stroking DD The Bunny.

I shook my head.

“How adaptable we can be.”

“Wouldn’t you say adapting is a good thing?”

She thought for a minute, scratching DD between his ears.

“Not always. Some people change because they’re sick and tired, some adapt to their misery.”

I nodded. “I guess the trick is to know when to adapt and when to change.”

She shook her head, looked down at DD, and said, “I adapted to living with my drug loving boyfriend until I couldn’t remember who I was before I met him. He’s adapted to being sick and tired.”

“Time for a change,” I said.

 

Today I’ll beware of adapting to things I’d be better off changing.

 

 Fawlty Showers 2 is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

•                     www.greenbriartraining.com  

•                     https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

 

#addictionawareness #dailymessage #inspiration #odaat #recoveryposse #recoveryispossible

Fawlty Showers 2

 

“Party like you’re 99!” 

(The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, sort of)

Dana poked her head in my office.

“Happy Sober anniversary,” she said. “What is this one, 65? 70? Guy as old as you must have a lot of years.”

“God willing I’ll have 34 years on Sunday,” I said.

“How will you celebrate?”

“Take a long weekend, ride my bike, have dinner with my family, maybe catch a movie.”

“That’s it? What did you do on the big ones, like when you hit thirty years?”

“Rode my bike, had dinner with my family, caught a movie.”

Dana gave me a disapproving look. 

“I celebrate my life a little each day. Don’t feel the need to go overboard on my anniversary.”

 

I’ll celebrate life at least a little today, and in the days to follow.

 

Fawlty Showers 2 is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

•                     www.greenbriartraining.com  

•                     https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

 

#addictionawareness #dailymessage #inspiration #odaat #recoveryposse #recoveryispossible

Fawlty Showers 2

 

Diamonds

When it came time to speak to our patients about Abigail’s passing, I tore up my carefully written speech.

“I was going to give the usual glowing eulogy, but that’s not what Abigail wanted. So, just a few thoughts on her passing.”

I looked around the room. So many sad faces.

“Abigail was a control freak’s control freak, and trust me, it could be annoying as hell.”

Heads nodded. A few people laughed.

“But she could also be inspiring. She wanted desperately to help other people.  She was a diamond in that regard. That’s what I’ll remember about her.”

I hesitated, not sure what to say next.

“A finished diamond has its flaws. A diamond in the rough doesn’t look like a diamond.  They’re still diamonds.

“I hope, no matter your flaws, no matter how rough you or your life may be, you still see the diamond, in yourself and others.  It’s what Abigail wanted for you.”

 

Today I’ll see the diamond, regardless of the flaws.

 

Fawlty Showers 2 is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

•                     www.greenbriartraining.com  

•                     https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

 

#addictionawareness #dailymessage #inspiration #odaat #recoveryposse #recoveryispossible

Fawlty Showers 2

 

No Problem

“I have to talk to all the folks in rehab tomorrow,” I said. “As annoying as Abigail could be, our clients loved her.”

“What will you say?” Dr. Deb asked.

“Don’t use her passing as an excuse to get drunk.  It’s the last thing she would have wanted.”

“Is there a slogan for this situation?”

“There is no problem so bad a drink can’t make it worse,” I said. “Especially if a lot of your problems started with drinking.”

Today I’ll remember: there is no problem so bad a drink can’t make it worse.

 

Fawlty Showers 2 is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

•                     www.greenbriartraining.com  

•                     https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

 

#addictionawareness #dailymessage #inspiration #odaat #recoveryposse #recoveryispossible

Fawlty Showers 2

 Walking, Smoking, Younger Women

Epiphany strolled in with Mojo on a leash. He looked a little thinner.

“We’ve been walking,” Epiphany explained. “The vet said he could start, even at his age.”

“My dad started painting in his eighties,” I said. “He loved it.”

Talmadge said, “My wife quit smoking when she hit 65.”

Margaret The Newbie sat down and said, “My grandfather was 70 the day Grandma died. He started chasing much younger women a week after the funeral.”

I shot Margaret a look, and said, “I guess today is never too late to start something good.”

 

Today is not too late to start something good.

 

Fawlty Showers 2 is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

•                     www.greenbriartraining.com  

•                     https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

 

#addictionawareness #dailymessage #inspiration #odaat #recoveryposse #recoveryispossible

Fawlty Showers 2

 

Angels, Devils, Excuses

My yard looked like something out of a magazine; not Home and Gardens, more like National Geographic. Seeing a lioness chase an antelope across the backyard wouldn’t have surprised me.

The little devil appeared on my left shoulder. “Too hot to cut the grass,” he said.

“I’d think you’d be used to the heat,” I said.

“Hell’s a dry heat. This humidity is what gets you.”

I looked to my right for the angel.  A distant voice said, “I’m in the pool. Not coming out. It’s heaven.”

“Do you need a better excuse?” The little devil asked before disappearing.

The heat felt like half excuse/half good reason not to cut the grass.

“The trouble,” I said to the lawnmower as I pulled the starter cord, “is that using one excuse makes using the next a little easier.”  

 

Today I won’t use excuses.

 

Fawlty Showers 2 is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

•                     www.greenbriartraining.com  

•                     https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

 

#addictionawareness #dailymessage #inspiration #odaat #recoveryposse #recoveryispossible

Fawlty Showers 2

Fighting the Good Fight          

I didn’t recognize the speaker at first. When I’d met him, he had been at least 50 lbs. heavier and had looked ten years younger. Loose skin hung on his face and arms.

“People say it’s the journey, not the destination,” he said, “for me it’s not the outcome, it’s the fight.”

 

 “Thanks to cancer, I’m bald, and so wrinkled my brother calls me ‘The Asian Raisin,” he said, “but I’m still fighting the good fight.”

Then he said something that made me think. Fighting the good fight was just doing the things that kept the world spinning.

“It may look like I’m just doing the day-to-day, but in a crazy world, I’m fighting for the forces of sanity and stability.”

He told us he fought to keep his kids on the right path, run a business ethically, and not feed the drug trade.     

   

As I was driving home that night, I said to the steering wheel, “I’m gonna fight the good fight. Lead an upright life, set a good example for my grown children, and maybe help some people along the way.”

 

Today I’ll fight the good fight.

 

Fawlty Showers 2 is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

•                     www.greenbriartraining.com  

•                     https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

 

#addictionawareness #dailymessage #inspiration #odaat #recoveryposse #recoveryispossible

 

Fawlty Showers 2

For Example

That night Talmadge and I talked about our plans for Father’s Day.

A pause fell into the conversation. Talmadge said, “The example you set is way important than the words you say.”

I nodded, not sure where he was going with this.

 “The older your kids get, the less time you spend with them.”

“That’s true.”

 “Only so many chances to set a good example,” he added. “I got sober when my son was two. Can’t tell you how grateful I am I didn’t blow those chances, sitting in a bar somewhere.”

We both looked over at The Preacher. When he wasn’t lecturing someone at an AA meeting, he was making money.  He had a son he rarely saw.

 

Today I won’t miss a chance to set a good example.

 

Fawlty Showers 2 is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

•                     www.greenbriartraining.com  

•                     https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

 

#addictionawareness #dailymessage #inspiration #odaat #recoveryposse #recoveryispossible

 

Fawlty Showers 2

That afternoon Katy wanted to run an errand. She asked if she could put Baby Kara in my office.

“I don’t know,” I said, “she did throw up on me.”

Katy laughed. “Well, you brought your face awfully close to hers.”

I smiled, and said I’d be happy to.

Later, Kara started to fuss a little. I picked her up and put her on my shoulder, humming softly. She slept while I watched a training on my laptop.

I remembered when my kids were little.

Sleepless nights, up with a sick child, going to work the next day looking worse than the guy in detox kicking heroin. Toxic waste dump diapers, noses running like sewer lines, brown stains you prayed were chocolate.

Then I recalled the good parts.

Child sleeping on your shoulder. Telling you what they’d learned in school that day. Trying to guess if the drawing they made just for you was a unicorn, a four-legged tank, or an alien.

“Children,” I whispered to Kara, “are the best example of being grateful when the good far outweighs the bad.”

Today I’ll be grateful when the good far outweighs the bad.

  

Fawlty Showers 2 is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

•                     www.greenbriartraining.com  

•                     https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

 

#addictionawareness #dailymessage #inspiration #odaat #recoveryposse #recoveryispossible

 

 

Fawlty Showers 2

 

Baby Vomit

The next morning, I was feeling energized, still thinking about all the reasons I had to be grateful.  

Instead of throwing on my usual jeans and a pullover shirt, I got up early and ironed a dress shirt and pants. I shaved my four-day stubble and splashed on cologne that had been sitting on my dresser untouched for at least a decade.

When I got to work, Katy was at her desk, Baby Kara awake in her cradle next to Katy’s feet. I looked at Katy who nodded.

“Who’s the cutest?” I said to Kara, picking her up and rubbing noses.

Baby Kara, smiled, cooed, and threw up in my face.

I stood in silence for a moment, holding the baby at arm’s length. I placed her gently back in her cradle. Vomit stained my shirt. I couldn’t smell the cologne anymore.

Katy said, “Oh no!’ and started to laugh. I wiped my face with a tissue from Katy’s desk and started to laugh too.

Sometimes all you can do is laugh.

 

Today I’ll try to laugh about it, whatever it is.

 

 

Fawlty Showers 2 is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

•                     www.greenbriartraining.com  

•                     https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

 

#addictionawareness #dailymessage #inspiration #odaat #recoveryposse #recoveryispossible

Fawlty Showers 2

 

Granted

When I got home that night, I opened my laptop and read an email telling me someone I knew was homeless because of his addiction.

I thought about his situation, and looked more closely at mine.

Our cat jumped up onto my lap.  I said to him, “People who love me. Air-conditioned house. Food in the refrigerator. A dependable car. Clean clothes. A career. Clean conscience, ...” The list went on.

The cat purred, sharing my gratitude.

“I’m sorry for the guy, but it’s good to be reminded not to take anything for granted.”

Today I’ll take nothing for granted.

 

Fawlty Showers 2 is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

•                     www.greenbriartraining.com  

•                     https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

 

#addictionawareness #dailymessage #inspiration #odaat #recoveryposse #recoveryispossible

Fawlty Showers 2

Change

I ran into the young man with the mismatched shoes later that day.  He’d decided to go to a halfway house.

“What made you decide to go?” I asked.

“Saw the slogan on the wall,” he said. “If nothing changes, nothing changes.”

“Will this change things with your family? Maybe they’ll see how serious you are about recovery?”

He shrugged. “My family may never change. If things are gonna be different, I gotta change.”

Wise words, I thought. Change almost always begins with ourselves.

 

Today I know change begins with me.

 

Fawlty Showers 2 is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

•                     www.greenbriartraining.com  

•                     https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

 

#addictionawareness #dailymessage #inspiration #odaat #recoveryposse #recoveryispossible

 

Fawlty Showers 2

 Frizzle Burgers

I got text from a colleague in New York regarding a file he’d sent me. I told him I’d read it when I finished my frizzle burger.

‘What’s a fizzle burger?’ he asked.

“Frizzle,’ I corrected. “Fried chipped ham.’

‘How do you chip a ham?’

Some people’s lack of knowledge astounded me.

‘Slice it so thin you can almost see through it.  It bunches up. You fry it until it’s just slightly burned, add cheddar cheese, burn that a little too, slap it on a bun.’

‘Why would anyone do that?’ he typed. Laughing emoji.

‘Because when you add pickles, mustard, and bell peppers it’s delicious. You should try it.’

Yuck emoji from him.

“He’s missing out on one of life’s simple pleasures,” I said to myself.  I wondered what I might be missing. “Tomorrow I’m going to try something new.”

 

Today I’ll find a new simple pleasure to enjoy.

 

Fawlty Showers 2 is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

•                     www.greenbriartraining.com  

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

Fawlty Showers 2

Grease Fire

“Hey,” the speaker said, “I got one for you. Grease fire, wood fire.”

“I’m listening,” I said.

“You throw a little water on a wood fire and it goes out. Throw water on a grease fire and it spreads.”

“Alcohol is like the water?” I guessed.

He nodded. “My wife has a rough day, drinks a glass of wine, and relaxes.  She’s a wood fire.”

“You have a couple of beers and whatever problems you were having spread.”

“I’m a grease fire,” he said.  

“And the water doesn’t have to be alcohol. It could be anything that’s the wrong way to deal with a problem.”

“Gotta know what kind of fire you’re dealing with, what kind of fire you are.”

 

Today I won’t throw ‘water’ on a ‘grease fire.’

 

Fawlty Showers 2 is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

•                     www.greenbriartraining.com  

•                     https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

 

#addictionawareness #dailymessage #inspiration #odaat #recoveryposse #recoveryispossible

 

FAWLTY SHOWERS 2

 

Dogshit and Diamonds

The speaker was a gruff retired marine who’d gone through a rehab that used my workbooks. He recognized me from my picture on the back cover.

“I really liked something you wrote,” he said, shaking my hand.

I beamed as I waited to hear what eloquent pearls of wisdom had touched his heart.

He said, “If you were broke, and you knew there was a big diamond under a pile of dogshit, how many piles would you lift?”

Right. Of all the quotes in all the workbooks, posts, and tweets, this was the one he remembered. And I'd used a more polite term in the workbook. 

I nodded, remembering what that quote was about. “You may have to listen a lot to hear the wisdom you need.”

 

Today I’ll look for the diamond, no matter what it’s under.

 

 

Fawlty Showers 2 is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

•                     www.greenbriartraining.com  

•                     https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

 

#addictionawareness #dailymessage #inspiration #odaat #recoveryposse #recoveryispossible

Fawlty Showers 2

 Smoking Weed in the Shower

“I like plain donuts because they have less sugar,” I said to Talmadge. “Same reason I drink diet pop.”

Talmadge snorted.

“What’s that expression?” he asked. “’Smoking weed in the shower’?  No candy, no glazed donuts, but three plain ones ‘cause you’re watching your sugar.”

‘Smoking weed in the shower’ described how people fooled themselves, replacing one bad habit with another, not recognizing their addictive personality.

A young man I’d worked with had told me he was done with heroin.  He planned to smoke weed, maybe just on weekends. I warned him someone with an addictive personality might struggle to do anything recreationally.

 He’d drifted into smoking every day, starting in the shower.

Epiphany laughed. “Glad I haven’t replaced my addiction with another one.”

“How many pairs of shoes have you bought since you got sober?” I asked Epiphany.

“Bite him,” she said to Mojo. He wagged his tail and rolled over on his side.

 

Today I won’t ‘smoke weed in the shower.’

 

 Fawlty Showers 2 is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

•                     www.greenbriartraining.com  

•                     https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

 

#addictionawareness #dailymessage #inspiration #odaat #recoveryposse #recoveryispossible

FAWLTY SHOWERS 2

 

Vampire Slayer

“My life is like a reverse vampire movie,” a woman in the afternoon group said.

“How so?” I asked.

“In vampire movies they just have to make it through the night somehow. Daylight comes. They breathe a sigh of relief and figure out how they’re going to be safe the next night.”

“You just have to get through the day, not the night, somehow,” the man sitting next to her said.

She nodded, “And like the movies, each day I get better at dealing with whatever is trying to suck the life out of me.”

“Until you become a vampire slayer,” the man said, “meeting head-on whatever life throws at you.”

 

Today I’ll live my life like a vampire slayer.

 

Fawlty Showers 2 is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

•                     www.greenbriartraining.com  

•                     https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

 

#addictionawareness #dailymessage #inspiration #odaat #recoveryposse #recoveryispossible

Fawlty Showers 2

Forgivens

The next morning, I presented a training on forgiveness in recovery. My audience was mostly treatment professionals, but much of the discussion was about their personal lives.

One thing we talked about was how much easier it was to polish a resentment than to forgive someone.  

To be certain, there were times when forgiving was much easier said than done, especially if the person asking for forgiveness was likely to wrong us again.

Still, I wondered if it wouldn’t do me some good to take a long look at the times I’d been forgiven, to polish my forgivens.

 

Today I will polish my ‘forgivens’.

 

Fawlty Showers 2 is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

•                     www.greenbriartraining.com  

•                     https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

 

#addictionawareness #dailymessage #inspiration #odaat #recoveryposse #recoveryispossible

 

Fawlty Showers 2

 

Horses, Pack Mules, Jackasses

Margaret went back to complaining about her ex.

“Don’t mistake your horse for a pack mule,” I said.

“You get weirder every day. What does that mean?” she asked.

“Get back on the horse, but don’t load it down with all your anger, resentment, and frustration.”

“The horse is recovery?”

“The horse is anything you start over after things have gone badly; recovery, business, dating, whatever.”

“I’m getting back on the horse. I’ll try not to treat her like a pack mule. He’s still a jackass.”

“You’re doing it again,” I said.

 

Today I won’t treat the horse like a pack mule.

Fawlty Showers 2 is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

•                     www.greenbriartraining.com  

•                     https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

 

#addictionawareness #dailymessage #inspiration #odaat #recoveryposse #recoveryispossible