"High Rent" District

I was at a crossroads this morning because I was torn between guilt and doing the right thing. The guilt always manifests itself with me when I miss a workout but the right thing was to give myself another day of rest. My “right” mind did prevail because as I contemplated going to the gym the “window of opportunity” closed since I had places I needed to be today. I was wide awake at 4:00 am this morning battling with myself whether or not I should go to the gym. Thankfully my “conversation” lasted too long as it was time to get up and start my day without getting in the regular run. My calf was feeling better which tells me that I was only suffering a strain not anything more but another day of rest would be a positive.

I did get out of bed and start my day which had me at the office early. Interestingly enough I was attending two functions with my boss which were in one of the nicest parts of Southern California. We were visiting two very high drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities that were holding networking events. I am so happy that my boss decided to go because I am not exactly enthralled with attending these events by myself even though it is part of my job description. I was explaining the other day at lunch that I am still adjusting to the social networking functions.

I am much better in smaller groups and I would much prefer being in front of the group than being inside the group. I am not sure what this says about me because I never thought of myself as a leader and in that same token I never thought of myself as a follower. I don’t exactly know where I fit in at these levels so I am still trying to find my “place”. I realize in the past that I was much better in those smaller groups and in recovery I do like being part of the group but I find this setting much more comfortable than those social functions.

I do like to have a partner like I have today when I attend these functions since it makes it much easier. Also this partner who happened to be my boss has a very similar personality to me where they are more sarcastic than serious. I find this much more palatable than people who take themselves much too seriously. The sarcasm works for me in these events where there are those “serious” people and we were in the “Mecca” of drug and alcohol treatment facilities. It took awhile to get to the first function but not as long as we both thought it would have taken. Traffic is very hard to plan for in this part of Southern California because planning for the worst case scenario is always the best way to go. This morning there weren’t any worst case scenarios and we found ourselves early so we made a stop at quite possibly the nicest McDonald’s I have ever been to.

I realize those of you who know me are probably saying what the Hell is he doing at a McDonald’s and that would be appropriate. The whole reason for the stop was to kill sometime prior to the first event and this was really the only place to get something to drink; I had light lemonade but I must say this establishment had a conference room and small coffee shop seating area. Yes, this was a McDonald’s but I guess when it is located in one of the ritzier parts of the state it has to play the part. It was unusual and I was wondering if all McDonald’s had gone this route and my boss assured me they have not!!

We did arrive at the first event at it was a very well attended event complete with imported snow. In this part of Southern California snow has to be imported because the likelihood of snow as fairly low. The grounds were very nice and the event was something to behold. I am always impressed when there are things I can eat and today I actually had options which don’t happen too often. I had to remember where I was because my eating habits were more “normal” in this area than in other areas and as always I was very grateful for these options.

We made our way to the next event but not before taking a brief tour of the area. This was definitely the “high rent” district as we overlooked the Pacific Ocean. We passed a set of Little League fields that overlooked the Pacific Ocean. It really is a remarkable area and I can see why a person would want to visit a rehab facility in this area especially seeing the location at the second event. This was the nicest rehab facility I had ever seen and if serenity, peace and solitude are a goal in recovery this facility had it covered. My boss had informed me about this particular facility and those words didn’t do it justice. I was very impressed with the grounds and the houses that sat on the grounds. This was an amazing place and I could see why the price point was astronomical.

We made our drive back and we did encounter the “worst case scenario”. Our trip up lasted little less than two hours but our trip back lasted a more than four hours. Thankfully we had a great deal to talk about and even my future with the company came up. I was asked to stay on since we both agreed when I started to reevaluate after three months and yes, it has been three months already. I was extremely grateful to be asked to stay on and I accepted. I am so fortunate (that could very well be an understatement) to have this opportunity and the potential is immense. I do continue to owe all of this to recovery because without it this opportunity does not exist and I will continue to do my best each and everyday.