"It's not junk it's 50 cents!"

I finally “made” the time to call my sponsor last night. Yes, I “made” the time as opposed to “finding” the time since there is a finite amount of time each day available to me and everyone for that matter. I have always marveled at people who would blame their inability to exercise (along with other things) on not being able to “find” the time. The one thing that is consistent in this crazy thing called life is time. There is only 24 hours and most years have 365 days but in that “off” fourth year there are 366 days in a year. In my opinion the time is always there and it is up to me what I do with that time so “finding” the time is not a very good excuse which is why I prefer to make the best of the time that has been given.

I had a very nice conversation with my sponsor as we covered a whole myriad of topics from politics to sports to recovery (of course). My sponsor has been associated with Gamblers Anonymous for the past 18 plus years. Although we are no longer in the same state I still feel close and have such a strong bond. He was there for me in that court room when no one was there in the early stages. I had only known him for a few weeks yet on that Friday afternoon there he was at the back of the courtroom lending support. As I progressed through my sentence there was the weekly letter which was a life line along with a Godsend for me. I have always enjoyed his “sharing” at meetings because he so understands recovery and the GA Program. It wasn’t a coincidence that I sat across the table from him on my very first meeting over three years ago.

The very good conversation ended and I didn’t do much of anything else last night. I fussed around on Facebook uploading some photos and if anyone is interested the photos can be found at http://www.facebook.com/home.php. I remember a very dear friend telling me about Facebook as I served my sentence and I had no idea what they were talking about. However; now I completely understand and think it is a wonderful way to keep in touch with people from long ago and not so long ago. I have something like 28 friends which is a combination of current friends, lost friends and people in high school I haven’t seen in 25 years. The internet is a powerful tool and if used correctly can be a very valuable resource. Anyhow I uploaded the photos and perused some of my “friends” profiles.

It really is hard to believe that 25 years has passed since I graduated high school and equally hard to believe that 22 years ago today my sister got married; happy anniversary!!! I remember that wedding oh so well because it was Game Six of the World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Mets. That was the infamous “Bill Buckner Game” where the Mets made an improbable comeback to win the game.

I watched that with my wife (who was my girlfriend at the time) along with two friends of my sister’s one was born in Boston. As the baseball went under the glove of Bill Buckner allowing the winning run to score I will never forget the look on that person’s face. It is funny how there are some things in life I can recall to a tee while there are other things I have no idea. I can say that during that game I didn’t have a wager placed because it was my first self imposed abstinence from gambling so that maybe a reason why I can recall those events so vividly.

This morning there weren’t any early games as my daughter actually had a Saturday off from softball and my son’s game wasn’t until later on in the afternoon. However; instead of sleeping in we were all up very early for the eagerly anticipated garage sale. The last garage sale we had was over 2 years ago as we packed up the house and the family headed east while I headed “inside”. We still had so much stuff which is really junk but I found out that one family’s junk is worth 50 cents to most anyone else!!! This seemed to the going price for our stuff and my goal was to get rid of as much stuff as possible. Well we sold over $200 worth of this junk which was much less than last time but really there weren’t any big dollar items. The highest value belonged to a motorized motorcycle which went for a hefty $10!!!

I was amazed as the people kept arriving in droves and one person bought $20 worth of old clothes which had belonged to my wife. We didn’t have any baby items as they went at the previous garage sale over two years ago so really we did well and cleared some more room in the garage. We still have more junk for another garage sale but the “shoppers” slowed down and it was time to call it a day. I think we accomplished what we set out to do which was to rid the garage of the stuff!!!

As the garage sale finished my son and I got ready for his baseball game. My wife had to stay home in order to take our daughter to a birthday party. It only made sense for just us to go to the game while the “girls” remained home. We made our way to the field and the game went very well. My son reached base three times in his four at bats.

I did notice a change in his batting stance as his front (left) elbow was elevated as he swung causing the baseball to go to the right side. These were hits nonetheless and I didn’t want to confuse him so we talked about this after the game. My son is so good and listened intently; I am sure he will make the proper adjustments. Also during the game my son made a very good play as he threw a runner out at second base from his centerfield position. His team was victorious and I think it was their best game of the season.