Category: Grateful Heart Monday

Welcome to another chapter of Grateful Heart Monday, where the focus is always on gratitude to begin the week with, which for today is for a guy who I’ll refer to by his first initial, “D”, who I met quite recently during one of my Toledo downtown jail weekly Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) commitments.

As I mentioned in a previous Grateful Heart Monday, I have plenty of gratitude for the rewarding experience I continue to receive from this weekly commitment, but I never thought that gratitude will spill over beyond the jail walls. What I mean by that is how I received a call a few weeks ago where I couldn’t identify the number. Normally I wouldn’t pick up the phone when that happens because of all those spam calls I seem to receive lately, but in this case for some reason I did. And I’m glad I did because on the other end was “D”, someone I had only gotten to know during two of my weekly meetings at the Toledo jail. As a side note, the population in the area of the jail I work with usually changes from week to week or at least every other week, so I normally don’t get to see the same people whenever I’m there to conduct the AA meeting and “D” was an example of that.

Nevertheless, “D” is a person who is hard to forget. Covered almost entirely from head to toe with tattoos, and I do mean the head as well, because at first I thought he had a short cropped head of black hair until I realized it was a bald head with a number of heavily-inked tattoos. I was quite intimidated by “D” initially, probably because of his silence, demeanor, and appearance. I’ve learned though I shouldn’t ever judge a book by its cover and “D” was definitely an example of that. He made sure to participate in the two meetings I had with him and seemed to hang on every word I spoke. When he asked for my number, I figured he’d be one of those who would simply just toss it in the garbage once he became a free man.

So, when I heard “D” on the other end of the phone and learned he was now in a program of recovery for addiction in Toledo, I was super excited for him. Rarely have I ever seen anyone leave jail and go into a program of recovery under their own volition. But “D” did, and on a particularly challenging day, when he was really questioning his decision to be in this new recovery program, he called solely to open up over the phone about his life with another human being, something he rarely did. After listening, and offering him a little advice, I made sure to let him know how proud I was of him for doing that, for the path he’d taken thus far, and for how far he had come in such short time in his recovery from addiction. Before hanging up, he made sure to thank me for taking his call and I felt really thankful because of it. Fifteen minutes later, I’d receive a text from him where he told me how much I’ve made a difference in his life and how much he respected my recovery. Words couldn’t express how much that meant to be. I’ve had a few more calls since then from “D” and truly hope that he will continue on this path. Only time will tell, but at least for the moment, “D” is on the Highest path he could take and done all the right things that are necessary to be on a healthy path of recovery from addiction.

I’m truly grateful for “D” for the decisions he’s currently making, for breaking through fear and trusting me with personal information, for continuing to show me that my AA work in the Toledo jail is making a difference, and for how much I keep on getting strong reminders of how important it is to keep doing the 12^thStep work I do in life each and every week. So, whether “D” knows it or not, he too has made a huge difference in my life as well and I’m very much blessed by having his presence in my life too…

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

Welcome to another Grateful Heart Monday entry, where gratitude is the only focus of the day, which for today is for Jackson Starr, a friend of mine I hired to redo the very outdated and worn-down bathroom in my partner and I’s home.

For five years now, I’ve lived in a home where the only bathroom I could use was a 5×5 one with pink flowered wallpaper, a pink walk-in shower, a pink pedestal sink, a pink toilet, and a pink-medicine chest. While I’m sure this was most definitely quite beautiful and in fashion back in 1993 when it was last redone to this design, it most certainly doesn’t feel so anymore today and in all honestly, I’m not that much of a fan of the color pink either! In light of that, one day recently when the growing amount of wallpaper peeling away from the wall and the chips of drywall and plaster coming off of it, as well as the fixtures looking so darn rusted and old, I finally decided I had enough of it. That’s when I decided to ask a friend of mine, Jackson, who’s normal day-to-day job is doing construction work in buildings and houses, if he would take on a side job to redo our bathroom as soon as possible. Thankfully he agreed.

While the job is being split up into two different projects, so far, his work has been second to none. Jackson definitely pays attention to the details and is quite good at making sure everything gets lines up and perfectly centered. He’s also got a good eye for aesthetics, as part of the direction I was going in would have made the bathroom look incredibly overcrowded. But thanks to him, I found an alternative that worked much better.

Jackson also has a great work ethic. Frankly, having seen many contractors over the years who spent a lot of time goofing off and causing a project to become unnecessarily delayed, I was pleasantly surprised how far that has been from Jackson’s work mentality. As he’s one of those who grinds in hour after hour after hour, totally engaged in the job, sometimes even well beyond the point where he probably should have taken a much-needed break! And with Jackson charging an hourly rate that was most certainly far more affordable than if I had hired a professional company to do the work, I’ve experienced plenty of gratitude all around.

Now that phase one of this bathroom project is complete, I can say this much of Jackson as well. He absolutely knows what he’s doing when it comes to working with tools and home improvement projects, much more so than anything I know I’ve ever attempted. Heck, I struggle to even assemble a simple tiny bathroom cabinet!

Nevertheless, one last thing I should mention as well is how clean Jackson leaves his jobsite each night. I’ve hired some people in the past who’ve done work for me, only to see them leave my house in a mess until the job was entirely done. Not so with Jackson, as he leaves things in a very functional working order, which is a big plus for that OCD side of mine!!!

So, yes, I have much to be grateful for when it comes to Jackson Starr, a friend and simple construction guy who’s been well worth the cost of his help!

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