Dear Tribe Family and Friends, saturday may 29th was mine and Cheryl's 7th anniversary. halfway through dinner i had a patched umbilical hernia burst. i have been to the ER twice and seen the Dr. who did the original patch job so she could take out my gall bladder 2 years ago, i am scheduled for surgery on july 7th at 2pm. i have been pretty much on a liquid diet for over a month now. the pain is unbearable but having gone through 22 surgeries in the past 21 years i am putting up with it the best i can.

in 10 days i will celebrate 21 years clean. a lot of things have happened over that 21 yr journey. i got divorced. remarried, i became 100% disabled, i went through losing my mom and dad last summer 23 days apart, i also lost 7 other people very close to me. 3 of them in Recovery. one was murdered, one committed suicide and the other died from cancer. I lost the career i did for 33 years of my life which was a dream job of being a proffessional radio DJ. . but through it all i have not relapsed or used. does that make me special? no it does not just makes me even more dedicated to my recovery.

At last nights meeting we had a newcomer, during the smoke break after she took her Welcome chip she talked to me about what her problem was. all i could do was to tell her to use the phone numbers the ladies gave her and keep coming back. yes i did give her my number if she truly needed to talk to someone that could offer suggestions that have worked for me. i made sure the topic of the meeting was the 1st step so she could understand that we suffer from a disease and the problem is us. everyone shared about their experience with the 1st step and i was very pleased with everyones response. God gives a daily reprieve from our addiction as long as we follow His will.

I could go on and on about the last 21 years and the miracles that have happened. for those just getting started in their Journey just know that if you follow the guidelines of this program you never have to use again. this saturday we are having a Unity Day it will be 115 degrees in the shade. but a dear friend of my is celebrating 7 years. i am providing my DJ services for free. and it will be a great day of sunburn and recovery. i wish you all a safe and happy 4th of JUly. be safe, be good to yourself and stay clean.

NA hugs and lots of Love,

JJ