Hearing the "Other Side"

Yesterday seemed more extended than usual because my daughter’s game was delayed and we didn’t arrive home until the middle of the afternoon. This did make for a long day since we departed the house very early in the morning. This was “crash” time for everyone as my wife and I watched a movie (Michael Clayton) and the children were upstairs watching their own movie (Sandlot). This capped off a very good Saturday and my daughter even had enough energy to entertain one of her friends. I have come to notice that my daughter and her friends are much less maintenance than her brother and his friends for a variety of reasons. One is very simple the whole difference between boys and girls especially at the ages of 7 and 10 respectively. The girls play so nicely while the boys have the whole “testosterone” thing happening which causes them to not sit still for long periods of time.

The boys are non-stop where the girls are hard to notice. I will say it is much easier with friends over to entertain one another and my daughter had a great time with her friend. The evening went by so quickly and we stayed up much later than usual to catch the Saturday Night Live appearance of Sarah Palin. It was funny and I think the whole presidential race has revived the long standing comedic franchise. Mrs. Palin was a great sport for appearing on the show and I laughed.

The morning came quickly and it was a somewhat relaxing Sunday. Our supplies have dwindled so we were due a Costco run. This is always a costly endeavor; however; a necessary endeavor. Prior to the Costco jaunt I fussed around with my IPod finally formatting it properly. I had to clean-up my library which was a combination of my daughter’s music and mine. Since I don’t know who half the artists were it made sense to setup her own account. I figured out what I needed to do and had setup my daughter about a week ago on the family’s computer. Now we have two distinct accounts which works better for everyone.

I was trying to format the IPod for my running and I have a little too many slow moving songs and since one of my favorite artist’s is Bruce Springsteen which doesn’t lend itself to fast moving songs. Anyhow I figured out the whole “playlist” thing and have playlists for running. I do need to solve the earphone dilemma but for the time being I can wear the headphones when not moving. All of this took up most of the morning and I kept to myself as the rest of the family was having religious studies.

My wife thought it would make sense to home school the children for their religious education and this does make very good sense. We are constantly going during the week and adding another destination did not make sense especially when an alternative was available. My wife took advantage of this alternative and all is going well. I even helped my son and it really is all about the love of God which I believe is in every person. I will leave it at that!!!

The Costco run happened and we were very fortunate our dear friends took the children while we went shopping. This certainly helps in navigating the store much quicker and we move fairly quickly through the store. Oh yes, it was a costly endeavor and I remember the days when the cart was full costing around $200 now this has doubled. We didn’t buy any unnecessary items yet it was painful seeing the numbers at the register. Oh well at least we only go every 2 ½ months or so since we would really be out of money if we went more often!!

We arrived home in time so I could make the Sunday Evening Gamblers Anonymous meeting. This is my “committed” meeting and I was a little disappointed by the attendance; however; there was a person at the meeting I needed to hear. This person has been in and out of the program over the entire time I have been associated with the program yet haven’t exactly embraced the principles of the program. It is something I needed because this was the “other side” and don’t want to ever go back to the “other side”.

I know there is nothing good that can come of my gambling yet I needed to be reminded since my ego has a tendency to forget. Hearing the woes this member faced made me so grateful for the program and my recovery. There are people who struggle which are so unfortunate and in my mind I don’t believe it has to be this difficult. It took me a very long time to find the GA room and there have been some horrible consequences caused by my compulsive gambling. However; thankfully my life gets better with each passing day as I embrace recovery. I can only hope this person and those like this person understand the incredible value of GA because it continues to save my life.