Category: Grateful Heart Monday

Welcome to another chapter of Grateful Heart Monday, with gratitude being the only focus of my writing on this day, which for today is for a group of nursing students I gave an alcoholism and drug addiction presentation to recently that surprised me at the end with a gift.

For the past four years I’ve been working with a teacher of nursing from The University of Toledo (UT), Judy, who was a subject of a previous Grateful Heart Monday. Her presence in my life has continued to be a blessing for the further volunteer opportunities it’s led to for me in my recovery program.

In light of this ongoing COVID epidemic, where opportunities for in-person engagement with others have been so limited, especially with 12 Step recovery work, I’ve been exceptionally grateful for this specific volunteer work still continuing. Recently, this work has expanded greatly, as other nursing instructors in the same department as Judy have caught wind of what I have been bringing to each of her classes. Because of it, I was contacted by another nursing teacher, Skylar, a few weeks ago, who asked me if I could meet with her set of students, which of course I quickly jumped at the opportunity. Fulfilling the purpose of the 12^th Step itself, where I’m passing my experience, strength, and hope in recovery to others, I am thankful for anytime I get a chance to pass the message on. Another teacher, Carilyn, a day or so later, also contacted me and asked if she could combine her students into the same presentation I was going to be doing with Skylar’s students, and I saw no problem with it.

When the day of the presentation came, it was with some 40+ students in a lecture hall in one of the medical buildings on UT campus. It really felt good to stand up there and profess to know something in this world, as lately, I’ve often found myself asking if I even have a purpose for God. Ironically, that question seems to get blatantly answered anytime I find myself pondering it, because at the end of this significantly larger presentation than normal, two students approached me with a card and a gift that was from their entire class, thanking me for the volunteer work I continue to do in a field that is typically often thankless. The gift was this special UT laser pen and a vacuum sealed water bottle. The sentiment I felt from it was most definitely heartfelt.

While I don’t do this volunteer work for any reason other than to help others and stay sober, it is things like this that I receive from time to time that remind me why I’m meant to continue doing this. It’s also what reminds me that I do have a purpose in this world for God and for that I’m exceptionally grateful.

So, thank you, UT nursing students, for helping me to remember why I’m still here, doing something that for me, is just telling my story, but for you, has become a blessing more than not. It is why I’m dedicating today’s Grateful Heart Monday to you and the  small gift you gave me that meant a lot more to me that you can imagine!

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

Today’s question is…

What is the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen in nature while on a vacation (ex. Niagara Falls) (Note: Non-human example please!)?

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

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Welcome to another chapter of Grateful Heart Monday, where gratitude remains the only focus of my writing, which for today is for the trip I just took to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where for as much as it proved to be a major letdown overall, there were also a number of diamonds in the rough to be grateful for.

At the top of that gratitude list is a place my partner Chris and I visited called Kitch-Iti-Kipi. A natural spring in the middle of a lake, truly in the middle of nowhere really, where you board this floating raft with an open center, and have to pull yourself by a big wheel out into the center of crystal-clear, aqua-colored water, to see incredibly huge fish swimming 48 feet below around the bubbling spring in year-round 40-degree temperature. It truly was a spectacle.

A close second to Kitch-Iti-Kipi of something to be grateful for during this trip would be our visit to Fayette Historic State Park. Fayette was the site of an industrial community that manufactured charcoal pig iron between 1867 and 1891. The town has been reconstructed into a living museum in modern days, showing what life was like in the late 19^th century. It was most fascinating and humbling in comparison to some of the modern amenities most Americans enjoy these days.

Coming in third would be a visit to Tahquamenon Falls State Park. While it came late in a very long and exhausting day, and was only a quick blip on the radar of overall time spent there, I personally took two mini hikes to both the bases of the lower falls and the upper falls. Both required some physical agility to get there on foot, which honestly took a lot out of a body already running quite low on every level at that point, but still extremely worth it. Considered the largest falls in Michigan to view and a mini-Niagara Falls of sorts, I was quite captivated by the mist of each hitting my face, especially as the rain fell upon me at the same time.

Just behind my visit to Tahquamenon Falls were visits to two separate military forts now turned into museums. The first being Fort Michililmackinac in Mackinaw City, and the second being Fort Mackinaw on Mackinaw Island. While I’ve never been much of a military history buff, seeing how day-to-day life was for the soldiers there behind the huge looming walls of both was certainly deeply interesting to say the least, as much as the views from the top of both were breathtaking.

While I didn’t get to spend as much time as I wanted to for what comes in fifth on my list of gratitude during this trip, I still enjoyed my brief visit to the Grand Hotel on Mackinaw Island, a resort that’s been able to maintain both its old school charm and air of upper-crustiness for well over a century and a half now. Made even more popular by the 1980 film “Somewhere In Time” with Christopher Reeve, you have to actually pay $10 to take a walk around the property and sit on its famed long porch overlooking the water, the longest of any hotel in the United States. I made sure there to grab an espresso and sit on one of its rocking chairs while taking in the view and to walk amongst its luxurious gardens, fountains, and pools as well. Interesting fact, after 6pm there every day, all men must wear a jacket and tie, and all women must be in a dress!

Some notable mentions that also brought some gratitude in the midst of great physical pain and frustration were a game of mini-golf at Animal Tracks in Mackinaw City, dinner in the same city at The Chippewa Room, a boat trip through the Soo Locks, a visit to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Whitefish Point, and two meals at this cool little breakfast joint in St. Ignace called Java Joes that truly was quite eclectic on every level, including its owners.

Sadly, while physical pains and heavy bodily discomforts robbed me much of being present and able to enjoy these things to the fullest, I’m still thankful to have experienced them to the extent I did. Hopefully, there will be a day again to experience them to a greater extent that will bring me even greater gratitude, something I find is crucial to keep focusing on, to remain positive and upbeat, in a world that often feels anything but.

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson