Sushi Lunch

I received a very nice email for a friend who I have recently reconnected with after a nearly four year hiatus. This is a friend who has known me both “before” and now “after”. I have always thought very highly of this friend over the years and when I had heard their name mentioned in a conversation I had to reach out to this friend. This is the same friend I played golf with last month and we had a great time during that round of golf. The email was short but very much to the point and the words made me realize how blessed a person I am. I am certain I have always been blessed but never really took the time to realize how many blessings there are in my life. I wrote the other day on my Facebook page that I couldn’t stop smiling thinking that what a difference a year makes and this all came from my friend’s email to me.

In two days in will be Christmas Day 2008 and the presents will be ripped open, great food will be devoured and most importantly our family will be together. I missed these moments over the past two Christmases and my main focus on those two Christmases was just getting through that day. I don’t make a habit of reading my old postings but I may hearken back to Christmas Day 2006 and 2007 to really put things in perspective. Hopefully I don’t need to read those postings to remind me how far I have come in such a short period of time.

I am eternally grateful for all the goodness in my life and yes, I have so much goodness it is amazing. This goodness starts with my family and goes to all the incredible friends I have in this world. I can’t say enough about my family and my friends. I may have lost some friends along the way but the friends I have and have made in the past few years are the most amazing people in every way possible. This friend who sent me the email did put in perspective and really every day for me is just like Christmas Day because the presents I have I get to hold, hug and kiss on a daily basis. I cannot lose sight of these wonderful people and thankfully in recovery as long as I practice those principles I cannot take anything for granted again.

Last night my wife and I watched a new television show that had been sitting on the DVR for a few weeks. My wife has wanted me to watch one more show with her other than “Heroes” so a few weeks ago I taped “Leverage” a new show on the TNT network. This was a fascinating show and along the same lines as the “Ocean 11” movie series. I did prefer the original “Oceans 11” movie to its modern predecessor and the subsequent sequels were borderline absurd. However; keeping in the tradition of little guy gets big corporation “Leverage” was very entertaining and I think we will continue to see what happens each week.

This was the extent of the evening other than my wife trying to make me a cookie I would eat for Christmas. She did make some peanut butter cookies which I said I would try but unfortunately my cookie eating days may have ended when my sentence ended almost 10 months ago. I did try a cookie but that was the extent of it but I thanked my wife for making them!

The evening ended and we headed off for bed. The children are off from school so the incentive for getting out of bed early has diminished and over the past two days I have been uncharacteristically tired in the morning not really wanting to get out of bed. I did fight my way out of bed and made my way over to the gym both days for my daily workout and when I fight off the rust I really enjoy these workouts. Let’s face I really enjoy these workouts each and every day and I have no idea where I would be with my exercise regimen along with being in recovery. My life is awesome in every sense and yes, that smile is permanently etched on my face.

Since it is a holiday week and my schedule is reflecting this I made time for lunch appointment with a very dear friend. This friend has seen me through the past few years and has been with me every step of the way. I am eternally grateful to this friend and today’s lunch was exceptional. I have ventured into the world of eating sushi. Prior to my incarceration my sushi eating experience had been limited to vegetable rolls and the occasional seared Ahi Tuna. As I served my sentence I would listen to two very dear friends talk about how much they missed eating sushi and I filed this back in my mind. When I was released I slowly got into sushi and over the past few months I have sort of turned a corner.

This afternoon I went to a Sushi Bar with this dear friend who really enjoys sushi. We had a feast of sushi and yes, I am still trying to get over the whole “raw” looking fish thing but the sushi was delicious and not “fishy” tasting at all. We were having such a good time our lunch ran very long and we didn’t run out of things to say. I wanted to talk about one thing but didn’t have a chance since the conversation flowed so easily from one subject to the next. This was a wonderful way to spend part of an afternoon with a very dear friend and some new culinary delights.