Birthday Law

It has been a good birthday so far.  And I define the "good" part as being quiet with everyone in the family doing well.  Tonight C. is cooking portobello stroganoff.  It is a meal that goes back a long way in terms of birthdays and our marriage.

With birthday law ruling the day,  I got to choose what I wanted to do.  So I worked out this morning, then went to the boat, dropped off the binnacle cover to be embroidered with the name of the boat, and began installing my birthday present--a depth reader that ties into the Garmin chart plotter.

Birthday law will remain in effect through tomorrow at which time we'll go to lunch and a movie.  I'm not sure what movie we'll see.  Probably it will be the screen adaptation of John Le Carre's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.  We both thought the preview of it looked intriguing.

The meeting last night was good.  There was a lot of laughter, something that I didn't know how to do when I first went to a meeting.  I was so serious that it probably took me a year to see the humor in so much of what happens in life.  Even looking back on the alcoholic escapades make us both laugh now.  At the time, nothing was funny about any of it.

Last night, the lady telling her story talked about completely ignoring the red flags when she met her husband.  I think that is so characteristic of us Al-Anons.  We think that somehow we can love someone enough to make them change.  So why worry about alcoholic antics when we can make them go away? I can tell you that I was bested at every maneuver.  Love became just a four letter word.  And thankfully, we were able to turn the whole thing around to get where we are today.  It is possible to rebuild that which is wrecked and broken.

No longer terrified, we will discover we are free to delight in life’s paradox, mystery, and awe.  We will laugh more.  ~ from Survival to Recovery