Yay!  A new laptop, thank you Lord!
 I changed the blog name, I hope you like and understand it's meaning.  It was originally my first choice for a title but already taken by someone else, though free now.
  So here I am in Florida, at the Day's Inn until the 2nd and very grateful for that!
  I'm back into the great unknown but I like it.  We'll see where God leads me next, I am up for anything He has.
  I really, really miss my friends in Kentucky and everything that was going on there but nothing compares with the joy of seeing my son and the great friends I have here on the island.  These friends witnessed my turning around and my fight to get sober.  They are some of the most special people in my life as we are fighting the same battle together.
  As most of you know, I am working on a big story and trying to also post on this blog, when I can.  I have failed on that last part, lately.  I would love to write at length about my friends in Kentucky and some of the adventures but I think I would do them more honor in the "bigger story."
  So after getting my work done to an acceptable degree in Kentucky, I said good-bye to my dear friends Mike, Robert, Doris, Tammy Tama and the folk's at McDonald's, I had come to love.  Mary Lou and Ross decided that they wanted to give me a ride all the way to Amelia Island.  I had planned on taking a bus!  Wow, what incredibly giving people.  I must mean as much to them as they mean to me!
  They picked me up at 6 in the morning and we started our day long journey south.  I hadn't slept much and kept nodding off constantly as Mary Lou took great joy in yelling "BINGO" every time I did.  We all had a grand time, teasing each other all the way.  My favorite memory was of tiny Mary Lou having 3 bags of chips open in the car, just to find her in the store buying 2 more bags of chips, at the next stop!
  Ross bought me a six-pack of Big Red, a soda that is only available in Kentucky, apparently.  I can't find it anywhere else and wouldn't be surprised if it is manufactured out in the woods, beside a crick.    I believe it may have an illegal amount of sugar and caffeine as it's main ingredients, with a little splash of carbonated water.  It's as much a staple there, as Moxie is back in Maine.
  We also had a great laugh at at a place we stopped near, off the highway, called Beaver Carpet, but I won't get into that......just yet.....
  A little after 9 p.m. we arrived on the island.  Too short a time, as is my telling of it.
  We did a short circle around town just as they were "rolling up the sidewalks" for the night and the only available place to eat was a Burger King so we decided to punish ourselves with their food and went in.  I wasn't really hungry but wanted that last meal with them.
  There were only two guys working there and they were very tall.  With my best accent I asked if the entire island was inhabited by giants.  I got a laugh.
  Our crap was ready, before long and it really lived up to my wording as it was real crap.  Everything was cold, except for the fries.  Ross and I were too tired to complain and just ate it but Ross brought Mary Lou's burger back for them to heat up.  I think they put it in a microwave and she soon got back some hot, nuclear waste, crap.
  We ate but poor Mary Lou only had a couple of bites and left the rest.  Those boys were in trouble!  She very politely went up to the counter and told them what they apparently didn't know about hamburger knowledge and service.  Everything that she had learned over 84 years.  ALL of it.  Those giants behind the counter looked pretty tiny by the time we left.
   I had planned to sleep in the woods.  "Not while I'm here, you're not."  Decided Mary Lou.
  Ross drove back to the Day's Inn and they checked me into a room
  It was a sad good-bye, with hugs all around and hopes of my return to Kentucky, from both sides.  My dear friends left and I waited on the balcony until they drove off, out of sight.
  I did a few things to get set up in the room.  I turned on the t.v.  It was the first chance I had had to watch one, in a long time.  Not surprisingly, it was the same crap that was on when I had last seen one.  Same news, even.  Same politics. same nothingness was going on the whole time I was out enjoying life.
  I decided to take a little nap and didn't wake up til 5:30 in the morning.  Not just the first t.v. but also the first bed I had encountered in a long while.  I felt spoiled and thankful for it!
  I made hotel coffee and started the day.  I had the hotel breakfast and checked on renting one of the bikes they offered, in front of the office.  $5 an hour and $25 for the day!  They weren't exactly shiny and I joked with the lady that I would pick up a can of oil to lube the one rusty gear it had, for no charge.
  I mostly wanted the bike to make it to my favorite AA Meeting!  I couldn't wait to see my friends, after 3 years and share my sober joy with them.  The lady at the desk told me I had to have the bike back by dark.
  There was a meeting at that particular clubhouse at 7, 11 and also 7 p.m.  I planned on running around all day and making the 7 p.m. but now I would have to make the meeting without the bike.  I didn't mind too much, though.  I like walking.
  So I took the bike out to one of my old haunts, Egan's Creek Greenway, in hopes of getting photo's of alligators.  I biked around and found my usual spot.  No gators present, too chilly out.  There was my old bench, to greet me.
  I had a sudden urge to drink, more so than any I had had since getting sober.  As wonderful as I felt, I was shocked to have an urge.  Revisiting an old spot brought it back.
  I used to get drunk on that bench, often.
  One day I was getting drunk and passing out on the bench, all day.  I woke up and an alligator was looking at me.  I don't think he wanted a beer!
  I decided the 11 a.m. meeting was a better idea.  The urge was brief but I wanted to start this island adventure off right.
  I pedaled toward the meeting, it was early so I went slow and passed the spot where I had my camp in the woods.  It was gone.  Bulldozed and the groundwork being done to put houses in.
  I made the meeting early and enjoyed a good pre-meeting with several folks who remembered me and seemed surprised that I was making it.  I was very happy to see them.
  There were, however, three people that I was most looking forward to seeing, that I had been missing for the length of my sobriety.
  I went back to the hotel, ate and enjoyed the beach for a while.  It was beautiful.  I never really liked the beach, like that.  Being alone with my thoughts had finally become comfortable, for me.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and seem now to have an urge to go back!
  I returned the bike and started the 45 minute walk, to the clubhouse.  I went in, through the room and to the kitchen for a coffee. I was pouring when I saw someone walking toward me, saying "why didn't you call me for a ride?"
  I won't say her name, because it's AA after all but I can tell you she is one of the three I was most hoping to hug.  I immediately got one and it was a great one!  A person so dear and who helped me so much in my early days.  It was suddenly like I had never left.  What a great, special meeting, it was with her.  There was even a surprise 8 o'clock meeting and we stayed for that one, also.  There were other folks there that I remember and who were happy to see me and I them.  It was the first meeting I "shared" at, in a long time.
  What a wonderfully blessed day and a beautiful evening.
  We hung out until almost twelve, sitting in her car, catching up and talking about the good stuff.  Life.  She loves it, also.  I love her dearly and wish the world was filled with souls like hers.  It would be a better place.
  One of the other people I really wanted to see, is her brother and she assured me that he would be at the 7 a.m.
  I went to sleep blissfully, forgetting to turn my phone back on after the meeting and sleeping til after 9.  Oh, boy.  I didn't make a meeting at all that day.
  It turned out very special, though.
  Jeffrey took the taxi to see me after his homework club and we went to Wal-Mart to do some shopping.  We planned on walking to a restaurant afterward, called Beef  'O Brady's.
  He didn't want anything at Wal-Mart.  All my suggestions fell on deaf ears.  He just wanted to be with me.  I was very moved by his love.
  I bought him some target's and such for his B.B. gun even though he said he didn't need them.  He was entranced by the knife selection, though.
  He wouldn't say he wanted one but I could see it in his eyes.
  "Well you've done really well with the Leatherman I bought you but I can't get you a knife without talking to your mom about it first."
  "Yes."  He agreed.
  Finally in the sporting section his eyes sparked again, as we passed by the weightlifting section.  He tried everything out and we decided on what he should have and what was better of staying on the shelf.
  "I can get you this, Buddy but we're walking to the restaurant, so I'll have to pick it up with Momma, so she can drive it home for you."  I apoligized.
  "You have that backpack, dad.  You can fit it all in there!"
  I had to stifle a laugh, as I thought of walking the distance with 100 pounds of weights and bars sticking out of my small pack and eating in the restaurant with them at the table.  Precious boy.
  We bought the small stuff and walked to the restaurant.
  It was a great meal with him.  I can't rave about the place but Jeffrey made it special, for me.  I heard all about the girls at school and the things that were important to him.  I could go on about the details but it would probably only be special to He and I.
  Too quickly, our time was over so we hugged and exchanged "I Love You's" and "More's and such as he got into the taxi, to go home.
  I stayed up late, unable to stop thinking of all the goodness of life.  I was unable to write, having grown rusty over the past month of non-writing.
  I finally went to bed at 1 and got up at 5, to make the 7 o'clock meeting.  I was looking forward to it!
  I showered and got ready.  I started walking about 6 and it was dark and cold.  I walked fast!  A lawn sprinkler suddenly attacked me and chased me down the sidewalk!  It got me in the shoulder and I took a shot to the head and leg but I limped on.  The show must go on!
  I finally got to the meeting and poured a coffee to warm up.
  I received the same greetings as before.  People shocked and delighted to see me for the first time in years.  Astounded and grateful to see me sober.  Me too!  Very grateful and astounded.
  A man walked past me and into the room.  He hadn't seen me and he was sitting at a table when I went in.  He was the second of the three I most wanted to see!  I walked over and put my hand on his shoulder.  He turned around and instantly gave me a huge hug. We talked and caught up on life.  We had a laugh when he told me a story I didn't remember.  He said at a meeting a few years ago, when we were going around the AA room introducing ourselves to the group, it was my turn and I said "Hi.  My name's Jeff and I'm drunk."
  I noticed a lady moving through the room and she sat down right across the table from the friend I was talking to.  She hadn't noticed me yet.  I looked right at her with my biggest smile and she saw me.  I loved the look that was on her face.  Everything stopped for a moment and then she ran to me!  "JEFF!  I can't believe it!"  she sang.  She is one of the people who never gave up on me.  "I knew you could do it, Jeff.  I knew you could!"
  It was a great meeting, in every way.