Life has been pretty exciting for me over the last 12 months. I lost my mother in August of last year, I lost a job and got one back, I got Covid and recovered, and I lost a beloved dog. Life wasn’t meant to be smooth sailing. God allows these moments in our lives to help us grow and draw nearer to Him. The Bible says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.” (Proverbs 3:5.) God also reminds us in his word to”be still and know I am God.” (Psalm 46:10.) The last year has taught me one thing: God is in control despite all the pain, sadness, anger, and anxiety I have experienced over the last year. He has comforted me. He has loved me. He has strengthened me. He gave me hope. He gives all of us the opportunity to start over with Him everyday all day if needed. It’s our choice. I’m looking forward to whatever He has in mind for my life from here on. I hope you will seek Him in difficult times. Be blessed.

Yesterday, I celebrated my 10th year of continuous sobriety. Wish I could say it was 13 years, but I was in and out of the 12-step program quite a bit in the beginning. I just wasn’t committed to the process yet. Then, 10 years ago after back-to-back blackout drinking events I knew it was time to get serious and quit for good. I got a new sponsor, went to AA meetings daily and did the 12-step work. Time went by slowly at first. Picked up my 30 day chip, then 60, then 90…eventually six months then 9 months…finally got one year under my belt. I stayed dedicated and consistent. I started leading some meetings and began sponsoring alcoholics myself. God truly did for me what I couldn’t do for myself, and I am eternally grateful to him. Miracles still happen. You have to work for them sometimes. Don’t sit around waiting for it to fall in your lap. Go get that miracle!

One of my favorite family traditions is the Sunday family dinner. We still continue it to this day. I have a lot of fond memories growing up having Sunday dinners with my parents, twin sister and my grandmother, my mom’s mom. Today it is with my wife and her oldest daughter and her husband. They are newlyweds and it’s a pleasure to have them visit this time of year. I’m thankful for the chance to role model family traditions for the next generation. I’m thankful to be able to go to church during this ongoing pandemic. I’m thankful for being able to share time and the dinner table with beloved family. Be blessed y’all.

For the next several days, I will be writing about things I am thankful for leading up to Thanksgiving Day. Today, I am thankful to be living in such an awesome country despite all the political strife and social anxiety due to the Covid-19 pandemic. I’m thankful to God for the freedoms I have under our Constitution. I’m thankful for God blessing our nation during good times and bad. I’m thankful for freedom of speech and for this platform to publish my views. I’m grateful for freedom of religion for all people in all its various and diverse forms that we as a free nation can choose to practice it without fear of government control. I’m thankful for all those serving in the military, putting their lives on the line for the protection and preservation of our country. 

Really, seriously…..I thought it was just another dang sinus infection or a summer head cold. I get them all the time. It was late August. My mom had passed away two weeks earlier. I was back to work and started feeling the early sinusitis symptoms coming on. It developed into post nasal drip, a cough, sinus pressure, a slight sore throat and a headache. I felt weak and sluggish though, and mistakened it as a result of the daily rigors my retail job catching up with my 54  year-old-body. I had some light headedness and a little vertigo accompanying ringing in my ears. Again, thought it was all attributable to a sinus infection. I got dehydrated on the job one night during a truck unload and went home early. Slept a lot the next day and went back to work the following day still not feeling quite right. The thought then occurred to me I could have Covid-19. But no, how can that be? I wore a mask religiously, social distanced, washed my hands, and took all the recommended precautions to avoid getting it. Naw, I told myself. Can’t be! It’s just another sinus infection. Next day, Sunday August 30th I felt worse, and my heart rate was up too. I was worried about my blood pressure.( I am being treated for it and on meds.) So, then I decided to go to urgent care. Well, they told me I had at least 5 symptoms consistent with Covid-19. I had to stay in my car and a medical tech came out and took my temperature. I had a fever of 101 degrees. I didn’t feel like I had a fever, I mean after all it was late August and it was 96 degrees with high humidity, typical that time of year. Took the rapid test and they sent me home. Thirty minutes later I got the call. I had it. Congratulations Les! You just joined the Covid-19 club.

And so began my 10 day self-quarantine period. I told my wife and she went out to get tested immediately. Thankfully, she tested negative and never got it. I thank God for keeping her safe. The doctor put me on Dexamethasone for three days and I felt fine by day 4 of my self-quarantine. I was told by the doctor’s office and health department that the virus affects people differently. I had a slight loss of sense of smell, but didn’t lose my sense of taste. I pretty much stayed in the master bedroom the whole time. My wife brought me meals, leaving them outside the bedroom door, and whenever I did come out, it was brief and I wore a mask to protect her. Anytime I stepped out of the bedroom unannounced she’d appear asking what I was doing and making sure I had my mask on, then run me back into my room. I started calling her The Warden on Facebook. People laughed at that but she was not amused. I was though! We did FaceTime from separate bedrooms. That was weird. But we made it work and we would do scripture studies that way so we could stay consistent in that area. I had my dog with me the whole time. I’d mask up and take him outside to do his thing then return to the bedroom. I read a lot during those ten days.I read six mystery novels and read scriptures, daily devotions, and the news. I prayed a lot and spent time with my Heavenly Father. It was a time to meditate and reflect, and it was time to heal from losing my mom only two weeks earlier. I rested my body, my mind, my soul. 

The self-quarantine ended and I retested. I was eager to go back to work. Fortunately, I was out on paid medical leave and couldn’t return until I tested negative. I still tested positive and had to sit out for another two weeks before the virus finally left me and I was able to test negative. My paid medical leave covered the entire time I was out which was almost a whole month. What a blessing! I am thankful God saw to it that I got that paid leave. My wife never contracted it and is still clear of it. She was amazing during my self-quarantine. I don’t think I could’ve gotten through it without her. She truly is a gift from God and I would absolutely do the same for her.

I’ve been back to work almost a month now. I feel fine. Still wearing a mask and taking the same precautions. I realize it could’ve been much worse with my high blood pressure and asthma issues. This episode gave me time to think about many things. I’m grateful for all the things God has done for me. I realize time on earth is fleeting. I’m grateful to be up and ready to serve Him everyday. Life is sweeter with Him than without Him.

I’m almost 9 1/2 years sober. I started this journey with AA and then, later, carried it on with Celebrate Recovery. AA originated the 12-step recovery plan as we know it today, which has also been modified in other recovery groups. My first attempts at sobriety were not successful, that is, until I got deadly serious about it and got a sponsor….someone who had been taken through the 12-steps by another alcoholic. We related to each other. And, from that point forward, I followed his direction and worked the steps….gradually…..one at a time. It was frustrating at times. Other times, the process was very rewarding as I slowly blossomed in my sobriety.

I learned a lot of lessons along the way. Lessons on patience, trusting in a higher power, opening up to another person who’d been through what I was going through. These are lessons I learned from the program that help me through my day. These lessons are helping me now as I find myself coping, along with millions of others, this Coronavirus crisis. This has been a shock to my system. Yet, I fall back on my 12-step program tools and put them to good use daily. Because of that I am at peace and enduring this rather odd and trying time in our lives.

The one thing I had to learn was the simple fact that I’m not God and I’m not in control. This was quite a revelation for me then! I still remind myself that I’m not in control. So, knowing this, I give my worries and my anxieties about this crisis to God….one day at a time, one moment at a time. It works. I’m at peace. And as each day goes by, I feel stronger for it. He is my provider, and so far our needs at home are being met.

Patience was another thing I needed to learn in my early sobriety. I wanted to whip through the 12-step program and move on. Thankfully, God blessed me with a sponsor who told me to slow down, put in the work, be patient. Sobriety will come. Patience had never been my strong suit, but thankfully I listened to my sponsor and learned to cultivate it. Today, I STILL work on patience. I want to get back to work asap, I want things to get back to normal asap, but then again I know this will not come quickly. My growth in patience is bringing me peace and calm and the ability to get through the day. As I trust God, my patience continues to grow. I’ll always need to work on patience and I’m cool with that. It’s God’s way of helping me to grow more and more, and to continue to draw nearer to Him. Life and God have been, and continue to be, my two greatest teachers.

So, I look forward to each day patiently. I hand my worries to God as often as needed. I trust that He’ll get us through this…and I just continue to follow Him as I have for the last 9 1/2 years….one day at a time, one moment at time.

I just celebrated my 54th birthday recently. Hard to believe I’m almost halfway through my 50’s already. Seems like it was only yesterday I was 25 and moved from California to South Carolina. Time has slipped away imperceptibly. Like grains of sand dribbling slowly into the bottom of an hour glass, it’s already half empty.

Time can be cruelly subtle to us mere mortals. Looking at myself now, I see what I never noticed before: graying hair, receding hairline, crows feet, and laughlines framing my mouth. Somebody call the cops. Time is stealing my youth. I can’t stop it. Maybe some pepper spray will slow it down a little but, no, there’s no arresting it.

So, I’m dealing with it, accepting it. I’ll continue to eat right, exercise, and do the best I can. Aging is a part of life. I realize it’s not necessarily a bad thing. At least I’m wiser now, or so I think. Life is our greatest teacher. I still have much to learn. I’d like to slap my younger self for random acts of stupid I performed in my youth. I don’t know how I made it this far! Well, here’s to another year of learning and growing. It’ll be good. All is well. Life is the sum of our choices, so choose wisely.

I recently lost 27 pounds in about 4 months. Last year, I got in trouble with my doctor after letting my weight go up in the early part of 2019. Actually, this started around the 2018 holiday season. I was surrounded by sweets and a lot of food at work and at home. (My wife and step-daughter are excellent cooks!) So, naturally I caved in to temptation. My checkup with my doctor showed my cholesteral was way out of whack, too. Years earlier, I had shed 30 pounds and had done a great job sticking to a clean diet and regular exercise. Well, sluffing off for a few months was disastrous. I vowed to get back on track. I started by looking at where I needed to make quick changes to my diet. I resolved to get back to a low fat, low calorie diet and I did for the first few months, but I wasn’t shedding the pounds. I had started back to regular exercise, too….plus all the physical activity at work. No good. I realized, then, what the problem was: I eat too much! Simple as that. I love food, and will eat way more than I need. So, I simply cut back on the amount of food while sticking to a healthy low fat diet. Gradually, the weight slipped off. I lost 27 pounds between Aug and Jan. It was gradual and I didn’t deprive myself. I just had to learn when to stop eating, when enough was enough. Simple. I also avoided a lot of the sweets this past holiday season, too. That actually wasn’t as hard as I thought It would be once I kept my health goals in focus. It’s paying off great. I have more energy, my back and knees don’t ache as much, and I’m sleeping better. I learned something about myself along the way: I can set modest goals, practice a little self-discipline, and by doing so, can get something accomplished to improve myself. So folks, if I can do it, then you can too! Be blessed!!