StRoNg

Dear Mr. Hemingway,

You nailed it!

We will never, ever meet a person who is not broken in some way.

It is the breaks that allow growth.

The breaks hurt.

Yes.

But, without them there is no joy.

This is true in so many of my own stories:

Divorce from M.:

I felt shattered.

Broken from every surface of my body and soul.

I took a week, or so, to allow myself to be broken.

Then, I began to find the light.

And the light shone in every single break.

Brighter than it had ever shone.

Yes, I still cried.

Yes, I still had anger.

Yes, I was still so hurt.

But broken - absolutely not.

I was whole.

My addiction:

Oh, Friends.

Addiction BREAKS people apart.

And it happens slowly.

Little breaks that turn into rips across every piece of you, your relationships, your responsibilities...

You are suddenly one big sink hole that was made by so many cracks in the surface that happened over time!

Then you choose recovery.

And, recovery isn't a bandaid.

It's a lifetime of actions.

And with time, as you are consistent with recovery actions, cracks begin to be filled in.

Road base begins to stabilize the sink hole.

Less cars drive over those cracks and those pot holes and that sink hole, helping to stabilize the entire road.

And just like that - the beauty shows in those breaks.

The breaks become beauty.

People are attracted to the beauty, to see how to fill in their own breaks.

And, I am here for all of it!