Five Years Baby!!!!

It has been quite some time since I last wrote in my blog.  I have missed writing a lot as I always enjoy sharing my thoughts.  Quite a lot has happened in the last few months and I will try to touch on some of them.

The Praught family was here last weekend and we had a wonderful visit.  It was awesome to see everyone and hear all about Duane and Erin's trip to South America.  I even managed to win Wizard twice which rarely happens as Jodi usually comes out on top.  We went out for a few meals and made it to St Jacobs market on the Saturday. St. Jacobs was crazy busy and I am not sure I would venture back there anytime soon.  We also went to the corn maze at Neuman Farms and had a great time.  The girls beat Duane and I but, their time through the maze was a little suspect. Kaye made the trip with Bernie and Karen and she still has a tonne of energy for her age.  She turns 86 this year and is a lot of fun to be around.  Bernie and Karen were on their way to Florida and have made it down there safe and sound.  We made the best of our short time together and will look forward to seeing Bernie and Karen in March as we our making a trip down to Estero, Fl. 

It has been quite a year at work.  So much has happened in the last seven months, it is difficult to put everything in perspective.  We are down to just Devin and I and we are making the best of it.  Jesse was off for a month taking care of some personal things and was supposed to come back a little over a month a go.  He called my boss the day before and said he was leaving for another job.  There is a lot more to the story but, it is not my story to tell.  So my boss, Devin and I are making the best of things and keep pushing through.  I am pleased to report that we have made it through another cutting season which I am thankful for.  It was quite the year of cutting as the grass never slowed down which made it challenging to say the least.  I am very proud of the job we do grass cutting and I know our customers appreciate it too.  Our properties do stand out and I get great satisfaction in knowing that.  We got a nice tip from my favorite place to cut which was awesome.  The tip was nice but, it was more the gesture and the fact that they appreciated our work.

I never thought we would get here but, we are finally going to start our fall clean ups which means the season is slowly winding down.  We have a small sod job to finish and I am hoping that is the last of our other jobs as it would be nice just to focus on the clean ups as we will have our work cut out for us with just two people.  Normally we have had Heather to help us with clean ups but, she is not around this year.  I never thought we would get to this point after the year we have had but, it is nice knowing I just have to push through four more weeks.

I am pleased to announce that I am officially five years sober today.  I am so proud of this accomplishment and know my life would not be where it is today if I had not finally not made that decision.  Alcohol never benefited myself or others in my life in any way.  Quite honestly, I wish I was twenty years sober as it there would have been less anguish and disappointment for myself and those in my life.  Alcohol definitely impeded my ability to reach my full potential in many aspects of life and it is unfortunate I could not come to the same realization years a go.  I will not dwell on the past though and know the future is much brighter with the decision I finally made five years a go.

Alcohol does not erase pain.  Alcohol does not solve inner turmoil.  Alcohol does not benefit meaningful relationships in life.  Alcohol does not manage depression or clear an unstable mind. It does quite the opposite.  I have great respect for those in life who chose at early points in their lives that they did not want to consume alcohol as part of their life.  Jodi's cousin Ryan and my Uncle Jerry come to mind and I envy that conscious decision they made.

I am going to celebrate today with Dave as we are going out for wings.  Then I plan on a relaxing day at home with Jodi and Ollie watching some football.  Should be the perfect way to celebrate.  It is a beautiful day outside and makes me thankful to be alive.

I have three more driving lessons this week and then my road test for my D license on Thursday.  The training is going really well and I am thankful to have a good instructor.  I have been nothing but impressed with Humber College and the job they do with driver training.  All the in class and drive training have been excellent and I would recommend their program to anyone looking to get in to the trucking industry.  And it is not just the instruction, is is the level of professionalism and character of the instructors that make the program so wonderful.

Well that it is for me today.  I do plan on writing more often as things will slow down a bit in the next few weeks.  I have been exhausted running on 5 or 6 hours of sleep a night during the week but, I know it will be over after Thursday and things will get back to normal.  Hope this finds you in good mental health.  Have a great week.  Take care,  Shawn.

“I once heard a sober alcoholic say that drinking never made him happy, but it made him feel like he was going to be happy in about fifteen minutes. That was exactly it, and I couldn’t understand why the happiness never came, couldn’t see the flaw in my thinking, couldn’t see that alcohol kept me trapped in a world of illusion, procrastination, paralysis. I lived always in the future, never in the present. Next time, next time! Next time I drank it would be different, next time it would make me feel good again. And all my efforts were doomed, because already drinking hadn’t made me feel good in years.”
― Heather King, Parched