Not New -Just Renewed! — I’ve walked this planet for 66 years, and hope to stay around for another 34 — then, I’ll reevaluate! This from someone who wasn’t expected to reach age 30, and hoped to live down to that expectation! I didn’t trust anyone over 30 then — so I never wanted to…

Triple Extra Large — (or 43 Years Clean)! — I really wanted to keep it low-key this year. I’m just so grateful to even be alive! After my most recent close call with my own mortality, gratitude seemed enough — I didn’t need all the hoopla that often seems to surround my clean date. Plus, I still am very…

Just to be on the safe side This morning, the good news was, my Troponin levels that were high last night hadn’t trended any higher. (Troponin can be a marker in the blood of something happening to the heart). They knew this because they drew blood every few hours throughout the night to check it. …

How Does it Feel to Have a New Lease? — “So how does it feel to have a new lease on life?” Honestly, I didn’t know that my old lease was almost up, until I found out after the fact that I’d nearly bought the farm. …

Glad to Have Mine Intact this Valentine’s Day — As I talked about in my previous story here https://medium.com/the-story-hall/reflection-296eaa35c27, I had a medical procedure yesterday to address some issues involving blood flow to my heart. …

Getting Good at Nothing at All! — I’m supposed to be doing nothing at all. After a busy hectic month in January, I kind of welcome nothing at all. Right now, there’s nothing at all that I’d rather do more. It’s nothing, really — nothing at all! I think of all those times I’d wished I had…

Finding Work As summer ended and I was moving into the farmhouse in Ivyland with George and Al, my job at the Fort Dix Laundry ended. It was just a summer gig. Somehow, I wound up working for an outfit selling lama-skin leather tote bags. I was desperate for work, and it…

George was the Step Group’s service representative to the Philadelphia Area Service committee. He came back from a meeting with the news that the group’s use of the AA 12 & 12 was now considered a violation of the 6th tradition, which warns against endorsing an outside enterprise. N.A. had…

Welcomed Back With Love and Acceptance My new N.A. friends really welcomed me back with love and acceptance after my “relapse”. When I told them I got loaded, they said, “Of course you did — you’re an addict. That’s what addicts do. Now, if you want to get clean, try doing what we do.” I threw…