On May 19 this beautiful creature, who I call daughter, celebrated 2 years of being clean and sober!

I have watched this incredible child of mine navigate some very tumultuous waters through her recovery and I don’t even know the half of it. When I think of what it has taken her to get where she is today, I am in awe of the strength and resolve that she has displayed.

She had to leave behind everyone and everything she knew to save her own life and this is what is often required with addiction, especially opioid addiction and especially a fentanyl addiction. Recovery is a messy process that forces a person to not just stop using drugs, but to address all the traumas and painful things that drove a person to numb that pain in the first place. It forces divine beings to find effective and healthier forms of coping in a mentally unstable world. It’s where the necessary work of remembering one’s own divinity makes itself known.

It demands that the addicted person start loving themselves enough to work on themselves and allow the lifelong process of healing to begin. That process often brings up our darkest shadows and deepest hurts and fears. And these are things that many people outside of the AA and NA rooms are not willing or able to face.

People in recovery are some of the strongest, bravest and rightfully twisted people I know and I’ve heard many of them say that their addictions were the catalyst for remarkable change and growth in their life that they never dreamed was possible. I would have to agree with that from what I have witnessed so far.

So, if you know someone who has spent even 1 day clean and sober from addiction, please celebrate the shit out of them…and please join me in celebrating this Lioness for the incredible work she is doing that no one sees, but everyone benefits from.

I love you, Ray and I’m here for every single part of the story.