Fourth of July 2006

Happy Fourth of July to everyone in the United States (I guess most other countries don't celebrate this holiday!). I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday and the weather cooperated with any outdoor activities. Here on the East Coast we enjoyed another hot and sticky day with a brief thunderstorm late this afternoon. I had a great day; yes, I went to workout again in the same Gold's Gym and today the air conditioner seemed to be working better; however; by the time I got to my car after finishing my workout and taking a shower I was sweating all over again. I guess this is something I will have to get used to but I do like the low humidity much better where everything doesn't feel as wet.

After working out I met the rest of my family, my mother and my niece for a round of miniature golf. Even though it was 90 plus degrees with 90 plus percent humidity the children enjoyed themselves especially my son. My daughter only made two comments about the heat while playing and was very happy when we finished the 18th hole. My son loves playing any sport and the heat didn't matter to him he wanted to go on and on but we all decided to get ice cream next door to the miniature golf place.

The ice cream place was a very large ice cream story which not only had 112 different flavors of ice cream; it also had a full service kitchen. This is something that is only found in certain places in the country and I didn't see an ice cream place like this in Las Vegas or Southern California. Even though I don't eat ice cream I was impressed with the total number of ice cream flavor choices. For me it is easy; I get either vanilla or chocolate yogurt and today I did a combination of the two. However; for the rest of my family especially my wife it took sometime deciding on a flavor. We finally sat down after what seemed like an eternity of choosing to eat our ice cream and my yogurt. Yes, my yogurt was very good and it appeared everyone like their ice cream as well.

It was a nice break from the heat and the most important thing was accomplished; the children had a great time. My mother has been exceptional with my children and my niece who is spending the week to be with my daughter. Before miniature golf she took them to the Build-A-Bear Workshop where she spent a fortune on four stuffed animals. For those of you who don't know what Build-A-Bear is all about consider yourself very fortunate and for those of you who do I think you know what I am talking about. This concept is a great concept from an ownership standpoint; however; for the parent/consumer it is a losing battle. But in the end the children built their stuffed animals and will have them for long time to come.

When we arrived home at my mother's house the children wanted to go swimming and they wanted me to join them. Of course I was happy to join them; however; our swimming was interrupted by a passing thunderstorm. It lightening, thundered and rained for about 30 minutes which seemed to cool things down a bit (not much but I will take a cooling down as a good sign!!). After the rain stopped grandma and grandpa took the children to the park so my son could get out his five year old boy aggression. This was accomplished when they arrived home about an hour and half later.

Even though we didn't see any fireworks today because we saw them yesterday and will see them on Thursday I had a wonderful day. The days and weeks and now the year has passed so quickly since I have been in recovery from my compulsive gambling addiction which is stated so eloquently in the Gamblers Anonymous Program.

Now I know the meaning of being PATIENT while I work my recovery as taught to me by the GA Program because no matter what uncertainty has transpired in the last 16 months I know my days are so much more fulfilling now than they have ever been in my life. I do have a great life and I thank God each day for giving me the strength to work my recovery to the best of my ability because there are so many blessings and gifts in my life. These past two weeks I am experiencing all the joys of my life which are my FAMILY.

I will leave you with another story of how out of control a compulsive gambler can get if they do not choose to recover. Yes, the story is from Australia but to me the addiction is the most important factor. I as a compulsive gambler would continue to gamble no matter the consequences; prison, insanity or death but now I know there is an alternative and that alternative is to recover and LIVE a wonderful life.