A photo on the day I kayaked at Whiskeytown

Don’t forget to read the story below if you choose

A TRUE TALE FOR YOUR WEEKEND PLEASURE

One night many years ago I stepped over my limit alcohol intake limit ( NO ONE REALLY KNOWS WHEN THEY HIT THE LIMIT) - by then it’s probably too late to stop.

My husband was having an affair. I had been married a long time and had children. I was livid. I got a baby-sitter and went out determined to drink until I could forget. I did.

Somehow I managed to get around “Dead man’s curve” without adding my name to the list of those who’d gone before me and not made it. As I hit 90 I flashed to my children and drove right to the police station.

I lived in the mountains at the time and was lucky I made it there. I parked the car and marched in and said “ If you don’t put me in a cell for the night I may kill myself or someone else.”

Well, they did. Of course, once I got in there I felt like I wanted not to be there. I wanted another drink. I was still very, very drunk. I told them I had claustrophobia and asked if I could sit in the hallway. They let me.

I ran for the door and it took three officers to get me back in the cell. I promptly tried to flush my blanket down the toilet. I sat in a corner awake most of the night, cold and with scattered thoughts.

Occasionally I would thump my head against the wall hoping to knock myself out so I wouldn’t have to think any longer. Sounds like insanity doesn’t it? When light of day reminded me how much my head was beginning to throb, I stood and looked out the cell bars thinking, “Oh my God, what have I done.”

There are more details to the story, but you get the idea. I am a decent woman. A good woman. It wasn’t me. It was the “other woman”.

Not an excuse - there was no excuse as I could have done damage that was irreparable. I thank God every day that one moment of sensibility permeated the overdose and caused me to stop playing a deadly game. It would not resolve the problem.

The reason I admit this to you is because I’ve been there and becauseI really care- I’ll always be honest!

I want you to have aREALLY WONDERFUL weekend! As you just read, before I go any further, you can see I am far from perfect. I have made almost every huge mistake anyone could make, with a few exceptions. Each one of those HUGE MISTAKES were when I’d been drinking. Yikes. Quite a thought. A lifetime and let me repeat: . Each one of those HUGE MISTAKES were when I’d been drinking.

I am not an evil person. On the contrary, I consider myself a decent and kind person. Evil is not a part of my inherent characteristics, though that “other woman” did reside in my body at times over the years. I hated her then, I hate her now. Sadly, it took me so long to be rid of her!

She was triggered by that seductive lure of alcohol. and in turn, an occasion partaking of various drugs.

The initial partaking was encouraged, I am sure, by alcohol being advertisedas legal and such a cool drug. We see that all the time. Celebrate? Drink!

Ever hear these things advertised?

“Let’s get just a bit more alcohol in our body than the chemicals we are made of can handle. It will be such fun. We won’t know when we cross that line and then after we have so many things we can participate in.

So we begin by laughing and having courage to be bold and feel secure about ourselves. We can say and do things we normally wouldn’t! We think alcohol let’s us say and do what we REALLY want to say - that the TRUTH really comes out.

(The ironic part is that thought is part of the illusion, part of the effect of the drug.)

As the evening progresses the volume increases. Some people may still be laughing, while others may slowly change into raging monsters (perhaps triggered by some word or memory). Others might sit in a big chair and fall asleep, or stand on the bar top and strip off their clothes.

Perhaps we won’t remember anything we do that night when we blacked out. Not when the party got radical, not whom we left with, not how we punched a wall, not how we got in a strange bed, or not how we got home. We might not remember which of the other drugs we may have decided to try, or how the car wound up in the ditch.

Perhaps there is a foggy memory of someone saying “It’s time to go”, and hearing yourself saying, “I’m fine to drive. I’m not drunk. I can hold my liquor.”

Then there is the morning after in which we can enjoy the depression that has set in from
the diminishing artificial feelings of good that we may / or may not remember. Our heads
throbbing like someone is hitting us with a sledge hammer.

Reaching for the aspirin in the medicine cabinet you see the puke that missed the toilet and the sight refreshes the taste in your mouth. It’s all you can do to keep from gagging , to make it back to someplace to sit down.

Your eyes are swollen, that horrible pounding in your head will not stop and you feel sick to your stomach. The phone rings and your friend screams “How could you?”

No memory. The friend hangs up, and all day long you wish you’d never drank too much and swear you will never do it again.

Nope. You won’t hear these things advertised…only how you can get the sexy people when you drink, or how good you’ll feel, or how it adds to any celebration.

Don’t you want to go out tonight to a bar and pay too much money for a drink. Don’t you want to take the chance of all these wonderful things happening to you? Don’t you want to sit with a group of people who will love you so much this night? Don’t you want to hear all the BS each person says, and all the unimportant trivia that will be swapped… and how wrong society is and how we can do nothing about it?

I don’t! I killed the other woman in me! Not soon enough to save some years and moments I still regret. I am not a prude, far from it. I am just sharing facts you all probably recognize through experience or seeing someone else do.

I just want you to think. To be safe. Be honestly COURAGEOUS and REALLY be yourself. Stand up for your right NOT TO FALL into the horrible pit that took me out for so long.

Really - I began with just a drink - for lots of years - but it will get you if you don’t watch out!

It will also weaken your bones, kill your liver, kill brain cells and do lots of damage to the only place you have to live - your body!

Have a REALLY wonderful weekend and don’t drink! Go kayaking, do something else and wake up tomorrow feeling no regrets and physically top notch! If you can’t NOT DRINK, then THINK. I’ve been honest and I am not proud to confess “the tip of the iceberg”.

If you’ve experienced even one of these symptoms: be careful. If you haven’t, watch it.

I love the woman I am today. I remember everything and have no regrets. I want the same for you!

Whiskeytown today

Going kayaking with a girlfriend today (what a blessing to be able to do so!) I’ll probably be “mixing it up” with the great blue Herron, maybe some little ducks and Canadian geese. I’ve seen deer crossing to an island, and even a bear - kayaked a bit too close, I think.

When I started kayaking I could little afford a $400-500.kayak, and those are the low priced ones. I placed an ad in the paper that read, “Have to have kayak. Will trade some cash, jewelry, professional services, whatever; please call!”

I actually got several calls and wound up getting a ready nice 12′
Old Town kayak for a total of what would have been $250.00 cash!
Cool, eh?

CREATE a wonderful day for yourself and remember someone out here cares for you and your heart!

Idol correction - whoops!

In my blog yesterday I said to “pick up the phone and vote Wednesday night-no money unless you
chose to give” - would like to say, whoops! No voting - asking for money only on Wednesday.
My first error ever! NOT.

Have a great day!

Hot Wax

NORMALLY I would not share something like this, but I am still chuckling from it. I am going kayaking
with my girlfriend tomorrow. I decided it was time to perhaps “trim the winter fuzz”. Then a brilliant
idea came to me. “I think I’ll wax that tinybit of hair on my chin, and give myself a hot bikini wax too.”

Mind you, I have never done this before. I purchased the wax. Quiet afternoon, nothing pressing, so
I put the wax in the microwave and heated it just like the directions said. Not hard, not runny - just right.

I began on my chin.OUCH!Mind you, I am pretty tough. It actually hurt, but I liked the way it worked. “Okay”, I thought, “now for the bikini wax. SURE………

That REALLY HURT! I had to finish what I started. I consider myself someone who is a person who learns by watching something being done. On my own, it takes a bit of practice. Ouch, ouch, ouch.

Then the phone rang and by the time I got back the wax was probably not quite soft enough. Somehow
I put too much on some places and too little on others. I began to rip off wax before it was ready, and had to pick off remnants of that which got too hard, too fast.

Then the wax starting sticking to my fingers and my fingernails. Have you ever made taffy? By the time the next couple of minutes came round I was picking wax off my fingers and trying to get my fingers apart to pick the wax off my fingernails.

My poor legs were red and looked as if I’d shaved them ( you women know how sometimes when you shave you get little red marks for a time.) Then they begin the next day to itch. Well, I got that from the wax! Anyway, I had gotten most of the winter coat off, but there was still some left. By the time I got my hands clean the wax was too hard and I was laughing too hard to concentrate! I shaved the rest.

There it is. My confession of my first hot wax experience. Interesting, to say the least

Spray and Wash magic :)

See - it would have been wasted energy to fret and get mad about the spaghetti on the rug. It all came out in the wash (so to speak).

Even if it hadn’t - it was just a broken bowl, a bit of messy spaghetti, an inexpensive rug, a few minutes used up that I hadn’t expected. When my children were small it was imperative to weigh out what was important. On one hand the self-esteem and life long feelings of my child / on the other, loosing a few possessions and extra messes. To me, the choice will always be the little (or big) human.

Mama taught me “Material possessions come and go. Hearts and feelings stay with us throughout our lives. People are always the most important.” She was right.

Yes - I watch Idol!

I call it “mindless humor” - with some laughs and some talent to enjoy. I am a people person, so the varied group is intriguing to me and reminds me how different (and alike) we all are.

Bravo for their project to help in Africa. Bravo also for recognizing and bringing to the forefront the fact that in America we have a huge number of people that need help. I don’t think it may be a well known fact around the world as we all seem like fat cats - but that’s not true. From small children to adults, there are people in America who are in desperate need of help too.

I appreciate this and never actually voted until last night when they mentioned for every call money was being raised to help all these folks! Tonight is another night we all can help by just picking up the phone to vote - no money (unless you choose) - just vote.

Honor and enjoy all that you have - be it a car, a cell phone, food on the table, whatever. Be greatful and have a beautiful day!

Has this ever happened to you?

I hope not:). I didn’t eat much this AM,and my hubby works late today, so I thought I’d just eat the leftover turkey spaghetti we’d had the night before. It was spicy and delicious and I thought with a glass of milk it would make a great light supper.

Whoops! Slipped right out of my hand on the rug I’d washed yesterday. Cooked with olive oil, I figured the rug was gone. BECAUSE I PRACTICE what I preach, instead of doing what I would have years ago,
swearing, yelling, maybe being all ticked off, I just looked at the mess and laughed! How funny. Not
what I’d planned, and yet, it was okay. Really a mess, but it smelled good.

I am ever so grateful for my work in health and fitness (keeps me rockin’). Even more, I am glad for my work specializing in stress management and relaxation techniques. It keeps my sanity!

Life always throws something our way and we always have the choice of how to handle it and respond.
So I kept on thinking, “how did that slip out of my fingers”, kept on laughing, gathered it all up and headed for the spray and wash and threw it in the washer.

I just refuse to let anything steal my joy. Only took a few minutes to get the rug in the washer (I picked up the glass dish - pieces anyway - swept the floor, and took a breath. It’s all good!

Flowers for You!

I hope they make you smile!

Important stuff

I write for another blog and today I think this particular subject is important for ALL OF US! Please take a moment and check out today’s writing - and then have a wonderful day knowing someone cares for YOU!

http://stress-management-magic.blogspot.com