Category: Grateful Heart Monday

Welcome to this week’s Grateful Heart Monday entry where gratitude gets expressed to start the week off on a positive note, which for today is for my sister’s recent visit to my home and also for a florist named Tom’s Events and Flowers.

I don’t get to see my sister Laura all that often. In fact, I consider myself lucky if I get to see her once a year, as she’s most definitely quite overwhelmed raising three kids and running a homemade cupcake and ice cream shop with her husband in Summerville, South Carolina. Laura is the only blood-related family I have left and I honestly wish I got far more time to spend with her. Needless to say, I was extremely excited when she made some time to come see me for the first few days of May, of which seemed to fly by so darn fast. But, isn’t that always the case when you spend time with a loved one?

Upon her flight arrival in Detroit, we went to a Starbucks in Troy, Michigan, while we waited for her favorite restaurant to open, The Melting Pot, that I was taking her to for her upcoming birthday, which is an age I know she doesn’t want me to mention! 🙂 Anyway, If I could somehow relive any part of her visit, it would most certainly be our coffee hour and subsequent fondue lunch. Because for those few hours, I was grateful to see Laura totally de-stress, open up, laugh, and feel truly appreciated, things she rarely seems to experience at home. We really had a great time sipping on our coffees and dining through a four-course meal, which included a truly amazing cheddar fondue to start and a dark chocolate fondue to finish. Later that day we also drove to a local Dave and Busters where we spent a good while playing a number of games where she won me a bunch of tickets to add to my growing stockpile. Watching her enjoy herself at a number of those game machines was a big blessing, mostly because I know if she was there with her family, her focus would be on trying to make them happy and not herself. You see, that’s my sister, always putting everyone else first and sacrificing her own happiness in the process, which is why my only goal of her visit, was to make sure she got to put herself first for once.

On her second day here, Laura awoke feeling a good bit of generalized anxiety, but upon getting out of the house and dining at a local favorite for lunch, a place called Grumpy’s, she began to feel much better. After raving about her triple grilled cheese that was filled with spinach and getting herself a free cookie as well, something you receive on your first visit ever to Grumpy’s, we headed off to the Toledo Zoo. My sister loves going to zoo’s no matter what town or city she’s in, so I was thankful the steady days of rain we had been having took a short break for us to get a few hours in there. I think it’s important for every single human being to get in touch with their inner child, and the zoo is absolutely one of those places where Laura’s comes out. There, I got to see her be fascinated with the sloth bear pacing its den, the jellyfish getting fed for lunch in the aquarium building, the one-and-a-half-year-old gorilla who kept banging on the glass and doing silly things, a good number of animals like the lemurs, monkeys, and meerkats who all were entranced by my golf umbrella each time I swung it up in the air and pointed it at them, at the walruses who kept kissing each other, and the lazy big bear who suddenly jumped into its huge water bowl and gave itself a bath. The highlight for her though was seeing the giraffes, as that is her favorite animal, and it was really nice seeing her smile from ear to ear as she viewed them. After leaving the zoo, I took her on a drive to a place called Crane Creek, a park my partner Chris and I often drive through. There, she enjoyed seeing a bald eagle and a number of other wildlife before we headed home to have a meal she was looking forward to, that being a tamale casserole Chris prepared from a family recipe. We finished the evening off playing a game of Trivial Pursuit 80’s edition, although I think that part ended up being a wee more stressful than de-stressing for her!

On my sister’s final day here, I could tell she was struggling to remain present, as she began to mentally prepare herself to head home the next morning. In light of that, we stayed home for most of the day and watched a movie, “Unsane”, which appeared to take her mind off her worries for a bit. Later that evening, after Chris got off of work, we drove her to the Motor City Casino, something she had really wanted to go do. There, we dined on the huge buffet first, which I know she liked a lot, and then played a few slot machines before heading home. I had really hoped she would have won, but she had fun nevertheless.

When I dropped my sister off at the airport the next day, she thanked me for how hard I tried to make the trip about her and said that I, at least, hadn’t added any stress onto her plate. I was so thankful to hear that because in my not too distant past, I usually made her trips so extremely stressful due to active addictions and selfishness. Maybe that’s why she called me up from the airport in Summerville after landing and was in tears, obviously missing the last few days where she just got to be herself for once. Hearing those tears made me want to do something nice for her, as she resumed her life back home. Being close to noon on a Saturday, I began calling one florist after another, hoping one of them would take my order and deliver my sister an arrangement of flowers that day. Thankfully, one came through, a place called Tom’s Events and Flowers. The owner was super friendly and in three hours had a beautiful arrangement at my sister’s business, which I found out later absolutely lifted her spirits.

So yes, I’m quite grateful to have shared a few days with my sister Laura, and even more grateful that she, at least for a short period of time, got to experience what life can be like when she puts herself first for once, as she truly deserves that!

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

Welcome to another Grateful Heart Monday where I always begin my week expressing gratitude with someone or something that has truly touched my life, which for today is for my new sponsor in recovery, Fran.

I must admit, finding a sponsor in recovery has been quite a stressful thing for me over the years. My first sponsor got tragically murdered, my second abruptly moved out to California, my third relapsed and never came back, my fourth passed away due to a serious health complication, I never quite felt fully safe to open up with my fifth, and I parted ways with my sixth because our spiritual paths were very different.

While I definitely know how important it is to have a sponsor in recovery, in light of my long history of sponsors not necessarily working out, I hesitated just asking anyone to take on that role for me. So, for a while, I found myself loosely praying from time to time to find someone who would carry the spiritual ideals and the spiritual energy I sought for myself. Someone who exuded the joy and peace that I know a healthy recovering life can bring by working the 12 Steps on a daily basis. All of which absolutely describes Fran, yet even though I met her when I first moved to Toledo in 2014, for whatever the reason, I never saw her in that role, that is until just recently.

How I met Fran was because she had heard one of my leads during the summer of 2014 and later asked if I’d be the main speaker at the upcoming local area Alcoholics Anonymous annual banquet that happens every Fall. Unfortunately, after that speaking engagement, I didn’t keep in touch with her, even though our paths crossed from time to time at a recovery meeting here and there. But each time they did, I always felt better and usually found myself laughing, smiling, and feeling uplifted, yet still never thought about asking her to be my sponsor! Why I didn’t could very well be that God knew I wasn’t ready to commit to her guidance just yet.

Regardless, about two months ago or so, after some nudging from my partner Chris, I began praying more diligently for God to help me find a sponsor that would really help me work through some glaring character defects that were increasingly plaguing my life.  During one of those prayers one day, I saw Fran appear in my mind and felt the Spirit nudge me to ask her to be my sponsor. It was almost as if a lightbulb had abruptly turned on within me where I suddenly thought to myself, why didn’t I see her in that role sooner?! A phone call later, I had a coffee appointment set up to meet her and a week later after that appointment, I knew I could learn a lot more in recovery through her guidance. She agreed to take me on and ever since, I’ve been working through this incredible recovery book with her called “Drop the Rock”, which is kind of funny in its own way, because my 2nd sponsor, the one who moved to California plenty of years ago, had actually suggested we do that book together!

So here I am now, about two months into being sponsored by Fran, and I finally feel I have a really great connection again with someone guiding me through the 12 steps. Kind, gentle, stern when needed, uplifting, and extremely intuitive, Fran is by far one of the best gifts God sent my way in recent years. She is someone who places God and her recovery from addiction first and lives and breathes the program of recovery every single day. I absolutely feel God led me to her and I look forward to each week now when Fran and I get together to read that book and do my 12-step work.

So, as you can see, I’m extremely thankful for Fran already and am thoroughly excited to see where God takes me in the 12 steps through her continuing to share her experience, strength, and hope with me!!!

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

Welcome to another Grateful Heart Monday, where the emphasis is always on a piece of gratitude to start the week off on a positive note, which for today is for a guy named R. Ronald Johnson, who is a CPA that rescued me at the 11^thhour for my 2018 taxes.

I must say getting this year’s taxes done was probably the most stressful of all the years I’ve been living in Toledo thus far. Beginning back in the January/February time frame, I received notification from the woman who normally did my taxes that she was no longer going to be able to do them for me given the massive changes in the tax laws this year and her desire to make her life a little simpler. At first, I was disappointed because she had done such a superb job at them, as well as she never asked for any compensation, other than me either taking her out to dinner or giving her a gift card to one of her favorite restaurants. But, the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was probably time given she had been doing them as a favor to me for the past bunch of years, mostly because I had sponsored her husband early on in his recovery, yet no longer was.

When my partner learned I didn’t have someone who could do my taxes anymore, he told me that his aunt would probably do them for me, like she does for him, and that he usually doesn’t have to pay her much either. After a quick meeting with her, she agreed to do them. By the time all my tax stuff was collected, it was about the 2^ndweek of March. After stopping by my partner’s aunt’s house to give her everything I had, I suggested we sit down and go through it, which she promptly said there was no need and that she would be just fine. I was concerned only because I have some things that make my taxes slightly complicated, like some losses that continue to be carry forwarded from the business I went belly-up in many years ago. She reassured me it wouldn’t be any problem and that she’d be done with them in a few weeks. Unfortunately, a few weeks turned into just six days out from Tax Day, of which I’d discover upon stopping by her house that she had struggled doing them. After trying to help her with them, she asked for another day or so. Two days later, I was at her house on the Friday of the weekend before Tax Day, hoping to sit down with her one last time to get it all resolved. Regrettably, my taxes and my persistence at that point had stressed her out so much that she dropped my taxes in my hands at her doorstep and told me to get someone else to figure them out, leaving me in a panic and back at square one.

The first place I called was H&R Block, where I found that not only was the cost too exorbitant, but that they weren’t CPA’s. With my partner’s aunt not being a CPA either, I didn’t want to make the same mistake twice so I called the closest CPA in the area whose secretary promptly said he wasn’t able to take any new clients on. When I asked if she had any recommendations, she gave me one name, a CPA named R. Ronald Johnson. A few minutes later, I had Ron on the phone and told him my 11^thhour dilemma. Ironically, he was able to take me in right then, so I quickly raced over to his office in Sylvania where I would spend about twenty minutes showing him what I had and explaining everything that had happened up to that point with my taxes. He reassured me everything looked straight forward and had no worries whatsoever, he told me he’d file an extension given how close Tax Day was at that point, said he’d work with me on the cost knowing my financial situation, and promised he’d get started on it no later than two days after Tax Day.

When I received a call from him saying he was done a mere day after the day he’d promised to get started on my taxes, I was frankly surprised given what I had just gone through all those weeks prior and was back in his office the very next day where I’d discover everything was more than accurate this time around. All my business losses were listed correctly this time, the numbers all lined up similar to previous years, and there hadn’t been any complications whatsoever, just like he said there wouldn’t. And as promised as well, he did greatly reduce his bill from his normal cost, which I thanked him profusely and told him he had gained a loyal client. As I drove home after that, I breathed a huge sigh of relief, knowing my 2018 taxes were finally behind me.

So, yes, I have a lot to be grateful for when it comes to a CPA named R. Ronald Johnson, someone I didn’t know up until just a few weeks ago, yet someone who took me as a client in the 11^thhour of tax deadlines. I have plenty of gratitude for him, as he sure did make my life a whole lot easier when it came to doing my 2018 taxes!!!

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