Over-Dosing

Today, August 31st, is International Overdose Awareness Day. Drug overdoses are the leading cause of death of Americans under 50. In 2016, drug overdoses killed more Americans than the wars in Iraq and Vietnam combined. Annually, overdose deaths surpass deaths from both car accidents and guns combined. Every eleven minutes someone in the United States dies from an overdose. I …

Cat Play

Scene: Monty and I just got home from running errands. Our three cats always meet us at the door, but this time, only Mackin did. Me: I’m so glad to be home. What’s up with this heat? Him: I know, I just checked—it’s one hundred degrees! Me: Mackin, you’re alone! Where are your brothers? Him: You really should know that. …

2020 Hindsight

America, 1860. The nation had long been divided over the issue of slavery. When Abraham Lincoln, a staunch abolitionist, was elected in 1860, South Carolina responded by seceding from the Union. By the time the Civil War began in April, 1861, ten more southern states had followed South Carolina’s lead. 1861 marked a year of national tragedy as the United …

Echoes of Eden

Paradise in a Parking Lot

I’ve been watching the news coverage lately regarding the issue of kids going back to school or continuing their studies at home. I’m truly grateful not to be a parent or a student right now in such anxiety causing times. I do know that if this were an issue back when I was in school, I would have loved to …

Bold Like Seamus

Do you have different nicknames for your pets? We do. Seamus, especially, has several different names, including Your Majesty, King James, and The Reason We Can’t Have Nice Things. I admit that he’s spoiled, but if we didn’t spoil him, he’d get what he wanted anyway. When Seamus sees something he wants, he goes after it. He loves Dr. Pepper, …

The Story of Tonight

Those words made me think about the stories in my own life—about nights when I made choices, both good and bad, that changed the entire trajectory of my life. Nights that I’ll remember for the rest of my life. The first one that comes to mind is the night I went to my first recovery meeting. I’d been clean and …