"Usual" Combined with "Unusual"

Yesterday evening was a “usual” and an “unusual”. Over the past four months I have had a standing invitation to a dear friend’s restaurant and over this time I have taken them up on this invitation. I kept the tradition alive but this time I had three other people join which were my wife, daughter and son. I was requested to bring them when we got back and I obliged. The dinner was indeed and as usual wonderful for so many reasons. First and foremost the fact that I had my family join me for the first time as opposed to showing up alone was superb. The second reason was the food which my family seemed to enjoy very much.

I have done my best to make the most of the time I had before my family joined me and the Wednesday evenings at my dear friend’s restaurant help immensely. I am so happy that I no longer have to arrive alone and having my family with me made it all worthwhile. My dear friend made my family feel at home and it is amazing how close we have become over these past four months. I have known this friend for quite awhile, almost the entire time we have lived in Southern California. Prior to my “issues” we weren’t that close but through all of this we have become very close.

These wonderful people have supported me through this entire process. There was never any doubt in their mind about the type of person I really am. Yes, I am a convicted felon who means I am a thief but these incredible people view me as a friend who made a mistake and as they say “everyone makes mistakes”.

They speak so highly of me it is a bit embarrassing and our relationship started when we met in the most unlikely place. They were starting their restaurant and came to my previous employer hoping to purchase some used restaurant equipment. As fate would have it we met in an older section of my previous employer and I just so happen to be in the area. I didn’t know much about pricing used restaurant equipment so I just “winged” it. This turned out to benefit them tremendously and have never forgotten what I supposedly did for them. I did have a soft spot for these very good people even though I had only met them for a few minutes.

They did seem like solid people and boy have they been “solid” in my life. I do believe in karma and what goes around comes around. Thankfully most of what I have done has been positive with a very negative. The positive continues to outweigh the negative and I do believe this correlates precisely with recovery. As we say in Gamblers Anonymous “do good things and good things happen”. This is not the reason to do good things just a wonderful side effect. One of the key principles in recovery is doing the right thing all of the time and this is exactly what I strive to do.

The evening was indeed wonderful and our children had a good time as well. My daughter said to me the other day, “Daddy you have a lot of friends” and she is correct. I am blessed with many incredible friends and my life is enriched with these friends. I continue to be blessed in so many different aspects in my life.

I opted to sleep in this morning and I was waiting for my son to make his daily appearance in our room. He must have been very tired today because he didn’t arrive until I was in the shower which is about an hour later then usual. When I came out of the shower he was snuggled up with my wife and as usual he had a big smile on his face. He truly is the epitome of a morning person and my daughter is the antithesis of a morning person. I’m not sure if my wife and I have raised them differently and I doubt this really was the case, it appears their DNA has been hardwired at birth.

I do enjoy seeing my son in the morning and his bright shining face. My daughter really makes an appearance before I depart for the office but she rarely smiles which makes me smile for a different reason. My daughter has always been more of a night person then my son even since birth and this is just the way that it is. Our children are amazing and it is amazing observing them.

I made my way into the office and it appears my absence has had an effect on many of my colleagues. It is never a good sign when someone comes into my office and shuts the door and this happened five different times today. I don’t mind playing the office’s “psychologist” (which is ironic because I work for a “Counseling” Center) and it does make my day much more interesting.

I couldn’t resolve anyone’s issues I just sat and listened. All of these things will work themselves out over time and I do have a much better perspective when dealing with these matters than in the past. Now I can actually be in the moment as opposed to being somewhere else. I do prefer being in the moment because now I am a much better listener.