Andy’s Woodsy Adventure – Chapter 11

Q: What did the boy shell say to the girl shell?
A: Wanna see my mussels? 

It’s that time again! Time for another chapter in my ongoing adventure! But before I begin, I want to personally thank everyone out there who has been following along with me on this magical journey so far. I’ve decided to make it a little easier now for those who aren’t caught up, by including all of the previous chapters in a PDF, which you can find the link to below. Well anyway, I think that’s enough formalities from me for now, because if I keep that up, I’m going to start sounding a lot like Captain Serious. So happy reading everyone!

Andy’s Woodsy Adventure (In Entirety)

Andy’s Woodsy Adventure – Chapter 11

“What on Earth are you doing and where have you been young man!” said my mother in a very concerned tone of voice, as she turned around and saw me lying there on the floor.

“I was upstairs…” I said lying through my teeth and hoping she hadn’t see the spinning vortex, which had just spit me out by the front door.

“Don’t you fib to me Mr.!” My mother said sounding obviously very upset. “I called your name and looked all around the house for you, you definitely were not here!”

“You’re right Mom! I’m sorry. I went down the street and was hanging out with someone from school. His name’s Chris.”

“Well why didn’t you just tell me that in the first place. You know we just got you back honey and you really had me scared! I was about to call the police!”

I could tell my mother was beginning to soften up by her tone. I truly felt a little bad though for not leaving her a note on the kitchen counter like I normally would. But I did feel a lot better about telling her the truth just now, that’s for sure. Honestly, I feel like I’ve had to lie quite a bit lately to everyone ever since leaving that cave.

“I’m sorry Mom. I was afraid you’d be upset that I hadn’t stayed inside the house. I was kind of bored and decided to venture down the street and just so you know I was only at the bus stop area. But hey, I can’t believe I tripped through that front door you know?”

Ok so it wasn’t the entire truth, but what else could I say? That I arrived home by way of teleportation through a spinning vortex? Yeah, I’d definitely be committed to an asylum then!

“Well honey, next time will you please leave a note?”

Phew, I dodged a bullet there didn’t I? I guess she hadn’t seen or heard the vortex after all.

“Ok. Hey, is it alright if I head upstairs and start doing some of my homework?”

My question was mostly true, but I had a more pressing matter to take care of first.

“Ok hon, I’ll call up for you when it’s time for dinner…” She said as I sprinted up the stairs and into my room, making sure to close my bedroom door behind me.

“Capricorn!” I said picturing the bus stop in my head.

VAVOOM…

The vortex quickly sucked me in and then spit me back out onto the hard ground where I had just been a few minutes earlier, announcing my presence with the “VAVOOM” again. As I picked myself up from the ground, I could see Chris walking down his driveway.

“Hey Chris! Wait up!” I said running over towards him.

“Whoa! What happened to you?” He said as he turned around and saw me.

I gave him the quick rundown on the teleportation power, explaining how it worked and then said I couldn’t stay because my mother was home. After getting his phone number, I knew I needed to immediately get back to my house before I encountered any more problems.

“Capricorn!” I said picturing the bed in my room, and watched as Chris smiled from ear to ear while I disappeared into the colorful vortex.

The next few weeks seemed to fly by pretty fast after that. I finally had a friend to hang out with both at school and at home. Thankfully, neither that kid nor his cronies had picked on Chris or I since the first day of school. Chris had already put two and two together as to how their underwear had gotten exposed in the cafeteria that day and we both had shared a good laugh all over again.

It was already into the beginning of October and becoming rather chilly outside. The leaves were starting to fall off the trees and I had just arrived for a sleepover at Chris’s house late on a Friday afternoon. My parents had actually given me permission to stay over at his house for the night. It was the first time it seemed like I had been able to do anything fun apart from them and I was very grateful for that.

I had brought the crystal with me for Chris to see, having taken it out of my drawer for the first time since that day I met him. It was currently sitting in my overnight bag in his bedroom. Other than us hanging out with Andy #2 on a few separate occasions, we hadn’t explored any more of its powers yet, but we had planned to do that very thing during this sleepover. We did learn last week though on one of those occasions that no matter where Andy #2 was, even if I wasn’t in the same room as him, that we could hear each other’s thoughts and tap into seeing what each other was doing just by closing our eyes. Oh, and we also discovered I could teleport anyone I touched, as well as how not to fall each time we did.

“So what sign do you think we should try first?” asked Chris snapping me out of my thoughts, as he pushed me on the huge tire swing in his backyard.

“I don’t know? I’m still a little nervous about doing it.”

“Yeah, I know. Mr. Fish Gills!”

We both laughed pretty hard, but inside, I really was kind of nervous. I mean anything could happen. For all I know I could become some weird animal who couldn’t talk and have a way to change back.

How about trying my sister’s sign, which is Leo?” Chris said oblivious to the fact that I felt somewhat queasy inside at the moment about the whole powers thing.

“Ok.” I said and then took a deep breath after stepping out of the swing.

“Leo!”

Nothing happened. No weird sounds, no spinning vortexes, no birds hanging in mid-air. Nothing.

“What do you want to have for dinner tonight?”

“Pizza! Most definitely!” I said looking over at Chris.

“Pizza? What? How does that have to do with Leo?” Chris said staring at me strangely.

“You asked me what I wanted to have for dinner tonight?”

“No I didn’t?” 

“Yes, you did!” 

NO, I didn’t!” said Chris sounding slightly irritated.

Suddenly I started hearing voices coming from every direction. It was like I was in a crowded mall during the Christmas shopping season. I covered my ears up and looked down at the ground and saw an ant crawling along it like it was mere inches from my face. I then began to notice smells from all around me too such as coffee, popcorn, hot chocolate, and a bunch of other things that were very stinky like dog poop and garlic.

“Andy, what’s going on? Talk to me!”

It sounded like Chris was shouting at me at the top of his lungs even though he was only a few feet away from me.

“I don’t know! It’s like my senses are going crazy! I’m hearing all these voices and seeing things extremely up close, and smelling the worst of smells right now!”

“It’s a sensory power Andy, focus only on my voice!!!”

I did as he said and just listened to his voice while he kept on talking. Thankfully, the incredible noisiness in my ears then began to dissipate.

“Hey, you know your breath stinks man!” I said. “Did you eat a bunch of garlic today or what?!” 

“HA! I had a leftover piece of garlic bread right before you got here.” Chris chuckled. “Hey, so, you must have heard my parents inside talking to each other about dinner tonight? Can you hear them now?”

“Hold on a second, let me see.”

I closed my eyes to focus my sense of hearing, even though I felt like gagging with all the overpowering smells all around me.

“Andy seems like a nice kid. I’m glad Chris finally has a friend to hang out with. You know he’s spent too much time alone for far too long now Frank.”

“Yes Linda, I know. Ever since we lost our daughter…”

I could hear Chris’s mother fight back some tears.

“Maybe this is exactly what will help Chris come out of his shell dear.” Chris’s father said reassuringly.

There was a long pause that I could only assume was Chris’s father giving his mother a big hug.

“I should probably go order those pepperoni pizzas from Antonio’s ok? And maybe when the kids are in bed later, I’ll give you a nice long massage dear, I know how that always helps get you in a good mood, if you know what I mean…”

“Gross” I immediately said aloud. “Leo!”

I decided to stop the sensory power before I heard anything else I would totally regret hearing. 

“You sister died Chris?”

“Yeah…wow, I…umm, hey let’s go upstairs ok?”

I could see I touched a nerve; one he obviously wasn’t ready to talk about with me. I followed him into the house and saw there was a bowl of popcorn on the counter and a few steaming cups of hot chocolate next to it. Chris’s parents were sipping some coffee on the couch nearby and told us the pizza would be here in less than 30 minutes. We then headed upstairs and into Chris’s room with our snack and hot beverages in hand. I really wanted to apologize about bringing up his sister, but decided against it for now.

“Hey, let me see your crystal ok?” Chris said breaking the uncomfortable silence.

“Ok, but all you’re going to see is a stupid rock, at least that’s what everyone else has said when I showed it to them!”

I pulled it out from my overnight bag and felt it’s soothing energy as it now lay in the palm of my hand, its purple color radiating outward.

“Andy, you won’t believe this…”

“Believe what?”

“I…can…see it, the symbols, the purple color, it glowing… oh my gosh, you weren’t kidding when you said how beautiful it is…” 

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

“The Actor”

I was assigned a homework assignment from my first true Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) sponsor a good number of years ago, over seven to be exact, that was probably the first thing I ever did in recovery to help crush my once very overinflated ego. It’s one I also still redo from time to time when my spirit moves me. The assignment was to take pages 60-63 in the AA Big Book, fondly known as “The Actor” section, and rewrite it in the first person, in other words as me. At first, it was quite the difficult assignment to do, but over the years as I’ve grown less self-centered and controlling, I’ve found it far easier to accomplish. It’s been awhile though since I last repeated it, which is precisely why I decided to redo it for today’s entry, so here it is:

“The first requirement is that I am convinced that any life run on self-will can hardly be a success. On that basis I am almost always in collision with something or somebody, even though my motives are good. I frequently try to live by self-propulsion and become the actor who wants to run the whole show; is forever trying to arrange the lights, the ballet, the scenery and the rest of the players in my own way. If my arrangements would only stay put, if only people would do as I wish, the show would be great. Everybody, especially myself, would be pleased. Life would be wonderful. As I try to make these arrangements I often become quite virtuous. In those cases, I become kind, considerate, patient, generous, even modest and self-sacrificing. On the other hand, I can also be quite immoral at times by becoming mean, egotistical, selfish and dishonest. But, as with most humans, I am more than likely to have varied traits.

So what usually happens? The show doesn’t come off very well! I begin to think life isn’t treating me right. That’s when I always decide to usually exert myself even more. I then become, on the next occasion, even more demanding or gracious, as the case may be. Still the play normally does not suit me. At this point I usually start admitting I am somewhat at fault, but always then find a way to convince myself that other people are more to blame. That’s when I then become angry, indignant, and self-pitying on a constant basis. So what then is my basic trouble? Aren’t I just a self-seeker even when trying to be kind? Aren’t I a victim of the delusion that I can wrest satisfaction and happiness out of this world if I could only manage it well? Is it not evident to all the rest of the players that these are the things I want? And don’t my actions make each of them wish to retaliate, snatching all they can get out of the show? Aren’t I, even in my best moments, a producer of confusion rather than harmony?

As the actor, I become self-centered—egocentric, as people like to call it nowadays. I am like the retired businessman who lolls in the Florida sunshine in the winter complaining of the sad state of the nation. I am like the minister who sighs over the sins of the twenty-first century. I am like politicians and reformers who are sure all would be Utopia if the rest of the world would only behave. I am the outlaw safe cracker who thinks society has wronged him. I am like the alcoholic who has lost all and is locked up. Whatever my protestations, aren’t I really only concerned with my nothing more than myself, my resentments, and my self-pity?

Selfishness—self-centeredness! That, I know, is consistently at the root of my troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, I constantly step on the toes of my fellows causing them to retaliate. Sometimes they hurt me, seemingly without provocation, but I invariably find that at some time in the past I have always made a decision based on self, which later placed me in this position to be hurt.

So my troubles are basically of my own making. They arise out of myself, causing me to become an extreme example of self-will run riot, though I ordinarily tried to make myself believe quite the opposite. Above everything, I must be rid of this selfishness. I must, or it kills me! God makes that possible. And there often seems no way of entirely getting rid of self without His aid. Even though I’ve had my own moral and philosophical convictions galore over the years, I found I could never live up to any of them, as much as I would have liked to, and neither was I able to reduce my self-centeredness much, by simply wishing or trying to be my own higher power. I ultimately had to have God’s help! 

This is the how and why of it. First of all, I had to quit playing God. After all, it never worked when I did. Next, I decided that hereafter in this drama of life, God was going to be my Director. He is the Principal, and I am His agent. He is the Father, and I am His child. Most good ideas are simple like this concept is, and it’s one that continues to become the keystone of the new and triumphant arch through which I am passing to total freedom.

By sincerely taking on such a position, all sorts of remarkable things have followed in my life. Today, I have a new Employer. Being all-powerful, He provides what I need, as long as I keep close to Him and perform His work to the best of my ability. Established regularly on such a footing, I have become less and less interested in myself, and my little plans and designs. Instead, I have become more and more interested in seeing what I can contribute to life. As I continue to feel this new power flow in, I find I am enjoying peace of mind, I am discovering I can face life successfully, and I am becoming more aware than ever before of His presence. As a result of all this, I am truly beginning to lose my fear of today, tomorrow, and the hereafter. I am being reborn!”

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

The Heart Of My Writing

Writing is probably my only creative outlet right now in life and it’s one I enjoy immensely, which is why I began this blog over two years ago now. Unfortunately, I’m coming to learn that not everyone is going to enjoy my passion and see the good I’m trying to generate through my words. In fact I had this happen just recently when someone left me comments both on Facebook and through email criticizing my site’s content and even going so far as to question my recovery and spirituality. Sadly, I allowed this person to really get to me for about 24 hours until I realized deep within, just how far off base they truly were from understanding the heart of my writing and even me.

I started this website with a tagline that says “A blog that looks for the spirituality in everything” and that’s precisely what I try to do in each and every entry. Many of my articles usually originate from areas of my life I find myself struggling in, like with this person who hasn’t seemed to like the content of the entries they’ve read. At first, I tried to convince them offline through email about the overall positivity I try to have in everything I write, as it was never my intended purpose to maintain a blog that would add any more negativity on this planet than it already has. Unfortunately, it became quite evident after two of their email responses that they weren’t going to be able to see that, no matter what I said. Needless to say, I wasn’t feeling very good about myself after their comments, because there’s still a part of me that continues to own what others say about me, even if it’s not true. Thankfully, a number of my friends and peers spoke with me after that and reminded me of how much my blog has helped them, others, and even myself.

I’m not sure why I keep on allowing some negative things others sometimes say of me to stick to me for a while, but I know I still do and it’s apparent I have more work to do on myself with this. Regardless, I don’t think it’s spiritually healthy to ever put down anyone’s passion in life, like this person did with my writing. To me this isn’t someone who has my best spiritual interests in life, hence the reason why I chose to remove them from it after this incident.

In the end, all of this clearly reminded me of my growing up years where I allowed so many of my attempts at being creative to be thwarted and negated by everyone around me. Today, I am doing my best to only allow those in my life that are going to uplift and support those attempts, instead of those trying to tear them down. Nevertheless, I honestly wish this person the best in life and feel no ill will towards them at all, not one bit. And I’m also grateful for all my friends who helped remind me of something that hopefully one day I won’t so easily forget.

Writing is definitely my deepest passion in life right now and one I continue to place my heart and soul in. I truly do my very best to look for the spiritualty in everything like I did with this incident and it’s my prayer that each of you may see that, as well as find my words to be positive and uplifting. You see that’s all I’ve ever intended for this blog from the very beginning, and hopefully one day this person will end up seeing that too…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson