Category: Grateful Heart Monday

Welcome to Grateful Heart Monday, a time for reflection upon a single piece of gratitude from my life, which for today is for a gift I feel God has given me to help people feel comfortable enough opening up to me about many parts of their lives, who might not normally do otherwise with the vast majority of others.

Over the years, I’ve definitely come across plenty who initially come across quite distant, closed-minded, and overly superficial in conversation. Yet, in me just being me, I’ve watched as so many of them have opened up about various parts of themselves that have often never been shared with others. I’ve also seen how this has helped them, as much as it’s helped me in the process, as I’m grateful anytime I feel like I’m making a positive difference in anyone’s life.

Like for example, recently someone I honestly didn’t know really at all, other than through a Facebook conversation or two, told me how much they were truly struggling with their life and didn’t know how to keep going. They shared how alone they felt and even at one point had talked about a very painful childhood experience where they were taken advantage of around the age of 14. I was very thankful when they told me how much it meant to them and I was grateful that I had held space for this person for at least our brief connection, as I know it helped them feel slightly less alone in their world.

I feel this gift falls under the 12^th Step work I do in the world of recovery from addictions. And while the 12^th Step work doesn’t necessarily always apply to those with addictions, it is a part of the step itself. As the 12^th Step says, “Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all areas of our lives.” And for me that means to be a vessel, as best as I can, who’s there to help those who might be broken, hurt, or suffering, by simply remaining judgment free, by sharing the pain of my past that I’ve been able to heal from, and to show unconditional love no matter what.

Sometimes in me using this gift, I’ve seen incredible spiritual transformations begin in others. Other times I’ve developed great friendships out of it. And for even those times when an individual has opened up with me and then quickly disappeared from my life out of it being too uncomfortable for them, usually because they feel they’ve shared too much, I’m still blessed in knowing that at least for a moment, I was able to help shine some light into their own darkness.

So, I am filled with gratitude for continuing to work with this gift, to help others feel safe with me enough to go deeper in conversation, who might not normally be that way with others, and I pray that God continues to guide me in further developing this gift for His purposes and His purposes alone.

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

Welcome to the Grateful Heart Monday series, where a piece of gratitude from my life is always shared to start my week off on a positive note, which for today is for the two new friends that came into my life only a few months ago, but have blessed it immensely ever since.

For years here in Toledo, I have tried my hardest to make some deep quality friends and have truly struggled in that department, having only developed one good friend here named Frank that began back in 2014. In Massachusetts, the place I lived before here, I seemed to make good friends wherever I went and had an extremely busy social calendar more than not because of it. I have really missed that and have prayed to God year after year here to bring a few more people into my life who would like to spend time with me, who accept me for me, for my uniqueness, and for the fact that I’m definitely an odd duck so to speak. But for years, that prayer went unanswered and because of it, I frequently attempted to do what I could to make them myself, but to no success.

With most of 2019 being such an extremely difficult year where my focus was more on making it through the many tragedies I had to endure that included a number of deaths and far greater health issues, I didn’t spend as much time looking for friends. That’s probably why I found it so ironic that God chose to answer my long gestating prayer for new friends during the period of my life where I felt I was truly at my worst. And, interestingly enough, both came into my life within a week of each other.

Rob showed up at my men’s spiritual group one evening as a guest, as he had come to check it out to see if it might be something he was interested in. He hardly spoke that night, yet for some reason, I felt a connection with him and was compelled to ask him after the meeting that night if he would be open to hanging out with me sometime. He said he would and within a few days, we met for a meal and it wasn’t long into that meal that we both saw how much we had in common. From comics to superheroes, to movies and wacky humor, to a number of mental and emotional personality traits that were quite similar, Rob is someone who ultimately feels a lot like the brother I never had, like that one who knows exactly what to say to either get a rise out of me or to make me burst out laughing. He’s also someone who’s an incredibly great listener and a man of integrity, always doing his best to keep his commitments. Probably the most fun part of my friendship with him is the fact that I’m gay and he’s straight and the two of us play off of that quite often with each other, usually resulting in deeply infectious laughter. In the four months I’ve come to know Rob, I can safely say I treasure his friendship and am extremely grateful for him being a part of my daily life now.

How I met my other recent friend, Mike, is a whole different story. Mike is someone who loves to post a ton of stuff on Facebook about Donald Trump, none of which is ever favorable. He makes it no secret how much he loathes the guy, and for someone like me, who’s non-political and doesn’t care about any of it, it caught my attention. We’d been connected on Facebook for a short while, but were really only friends of friends, never having met each other. One day, after seeing his umpteenth million negative posting on Trump, I decided to message him about it. It was a great icebreaker and enough for him to ask me if I ever wanted to meet for a coffee, which I did and from there, we hit it off immediately. The best comparison I can make of my friendship with Mike is of those famous comedians, Laurel and Hardy. I’m definitely the playful and childlike Laurel, where he is the far more conservative and reserved Hardy. Somehow it just works and Mike and I’ve grown into a very close friendship with him where spontaneous humor is often our norm. Case in point, Mike likes to playfully make fun of my leaf-free yard obsession. So, one day when a leaf blew in front of his car at a stoplight, he abruptly asked whether I wanted to get out and go save it! I, on the other hand, like to make fun of his obsession about these daily sales flyers that come out on Saturdays in these light blue bags, that for some reason he doesn’t get, so he goes out looking for them on other people’s driveways who leave them and could care less about them. You would think he hit the lottery sometimes when he finds one to grab! We certainly play off of each other well with our respective obsessions and humor and over the past four months have grown to care about each other pretty fondly in spite of being extremely different people overall.

So yes, I have two new friends in my life that I feel God has blessed me with that I am extremely grateful for today and have come to love and cherish. One who feels a lot like a brother I never had. And another who feels a lot like I’ve known him on an even deeper level, maybe even from a past life…

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

Welcome to another entry of Grateful Heart Monday, where my gratitude consistently gets expressed to start my week off on a positive note, which for today is for this year’s Christmas Day and all the joy I experienced during it.

Last year, I got to spend the majority of Christmas Day with my sister and her family and had a wonderful time with all of them. Unfortunately, they made the decision earlier this year to not have any extended family during 2019’s Christmas, which initially brought me great sadness, that is until my partner Chris suggested we host a Christmas Day feast at our home for us and a few friends. I really liked that idea and ultimately, when Christmas Day finally arrived, it was our friends Frank and Mike who were our holiday guests and family for the day.

First and foremost, I am truly grateful for how much Chris put into Christmas dinner. Between the several hours of work on Christmas Eve and all the hours Chris spent on Christmas morning and early Christmas afternoon, he ended up preparing an incredibly tasty spread that included both a fresh turkey and ham, and all the homemade accompaniments from scratch, including green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, red skin mashed potatoes, cornbread stuffing, cranberry relish, and gravy. I have to also give him credit for finding my favorite bread to accompany the meal, one that came from Cheesecake Factory (their wheat version).

Second, I’m just as much grateful for the desserts that our friends brought for Christmas dinner. Mike prepared a ricotta cheesecake from my favorite recipe I gave him, while Frank prepared a chocolate cherry pecan Bundt cake. Both were out of this world and some of the best desserts I’ve ever had during the holidays. Kudos to Mike for finding a way to make me laugh as always when he called me up before arriving on Christmas Day and telling me he had set the cheesecake outside over night to cool and the squirrels had gotten to it. I can’t believe I actually believed him at first! I’m so freaking gullible!

Next, gratitude came in the form of some heavy laughter after dinner when the four of us sat down to play a few new games I had bought, including “Hive Mind” and “What Do You Meme?” It was fun watching everyone burst out laughing, especially my friend Frank, who has gone through a lot in the past year or so of his life with a number of his family members having passed.

And lastly, my final piece of gratitude I want to mention came in the form of watching my favorite movie, “Serendipity”, at the end of the night. “Serendipity” is a film I always make it a point to watch every year at least once between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. Starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale, it’s about two people meeting by chance, who are destined to be together by fate, but maybe not in the timing they want. Every time I watch this movie I find myself getting in a great mood, so it was a very fitting way to end the day’s festivities.

So yes, I have plenty of great memories to be thankful for on another Christmas Day that’s now come and gone. But, before I close, I want to also make mention that I’m grateful my partner got to spend some time with his family on Christmas evening before we watched the movie, for the few gifts I was given by him and my friends, and for all those who texted, commented on Facebook, or called me to wish me a Merry Christmas. As all in all, it was each of these things and that which I mentioned above that made for such a beautiful Christmas Day and for simply getting to spend the day with those I love.

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