Thanks for taking on the role of my new therapist. As I sit at my glass desk, LED lights glowing underneath, I'm looking out the window in my office and pondering how much of my life I want to share with you today. From our top floor apartment window, I can see a lot of light brown sand through the patchy grass, trees are starting to come to life and it's cloudy and cool here today in Traverse City. Snoop Dogg is playing on Amazon Music and I just finished designing a new logo for the shirts we're going to auction off on the website. I keep thinking of all the things that were on my list of things to do today, but as always I seem to knock off the fun things first. Now realize I need to press the shirts, take pics, and create a post for the shirts... I want to order a pizza or look for movies that are now for rent on Apple TV.
I want to look for dealerships to contact to help with 217 Recovery Rides. I know we talk about this a lot on the podcast and I'm sharing this with you today to show my vulnerable side. In a perfect world (in my mind) my phone would be ringing off the hook with people who want to help us. That's not happening and I'm okay with that, I'm not giving up and will do what I have to, to make sure the transportation side of 217 Recovery gets off the ground. I spoke with a friend of mine today who's a GM at a dealership in Oklahoma. He told me to ask for a company lease agreement or loaner agreement that dealers have for schools and non-profits. His dealership actually loans 8 vans to the University of Oklahoma and having this new approach might just save us from having to provide insurance which would save us a ton. We would avoid being bent over by the state of Michigan for the unfair insurance practices and false claims of providing lifetime medical insurance for those seriously injured in auto accidents. This might be its own separate blog, so let me get back on track with my day.
Today I heard a woman that was in treatment with me last year died yesterday. She was funny, quiet, and someone who had a kind heart. It hurts my heart to know addiction played a role in her death. I know it won't be the last person I know who dies from their addiction but damn it, why can't we come out of the shadows to speak up and support our families and friends who need help? It's not your fault, it's not my fault, it's not our family's fault, but it is all of our faults for not treating addiction how it needs to be treated and addressed. The more we shy away from little Billy having a problem the more little Billy increases his chance of dying at the hand of his addiction, leaving family and friends way too early. It can be prevented and that's the mission of 217 Recovery. Anna, Marney, J, Tyrone, Chris, and I are not afraid to say we're in recovery, in fact, we're going to make a movie about it. The more we can deliver the message of hope the more we'll inspire and change the way people think of addiction. Maybe one day they'll even make Hollywood movies about how Billy had a problem and addressing it wasn't this big bad dark secret. Maybe it'll be looked at like it should, with gratefulness and pride, that Billy's family and friends were there to support him at a crucial time in his life. They dealt with it and moved forward as he did with the rest of his life. Just a thought... Have a great rest of your day, I'm off to the store and not to do the things on my list... I need to work on this, but the first step is acceptance!