So in the spirit of the holiday season and seeing that the last blog I wrote was about how much I adore Thanksgiving, I figure now is a good time to talk a little bit about my experience with the wild and crazy Christmas season.
To me Christmas is about family – but not in the traditional sense of that phrase. What I mean is, Christmas is always wild, no matter what the circumstance is, something crazy always happens to my family during Christmas. If your family is anything like our family, something wildly hilarious always happens. For example, one Christmas years and years ago, my family decided to get everybody together and head up to New York, where my Dad grew up. Once up there, we had a house about a mile from the beach and somebody thought it would be a great idea to do a “Polar Bear” swim. A polar bear swim is a winter swim in the ocean. The next day, in the freezing cold wind, I walked slowly in succession with my family into the harshly cold weather down to the beach to face the cold cold water, for one reason and one reason alone, because if I didn’t, my siblings would never stop making fun of me.
At the beach all of us kids solemnly began taking of layers of jackets and sweaters, beginning to think that this might just be a terrible idea, we were almost down to our bathing suits when we heard a hysterical man running down the beach towards us. I looked up and I saw one of the happiest men I have ever seen. My dad, in all his glory, wearing a bright red pajama/long underwear suit, (you know the kind with the butt flap), literally skipping across the beach, past all of his hesitant kids and plunging himself into the freezing waves. With a quick glance across the line of siblings, we all began racing towards the water, laughing to the point of tears, without a hint of fear in our hearts.
This is the kind of family experiences I think Christmas is all about. No need for stating out loud what we are all thankful for but instead, acting on what we are all grateful for. To me Christmas is a time to laugh, to love, and to act on gratitude. To show the people you love how much you they mean to you, and to experience the magic of the season together.
Memories like this one I just shared with you all keep me going. No matter how bad my day is, the simple mental picture of my dad grinning ear to ear in that red jump suit can make any day one to be grateful for.
Keep liven’ the dream
Patrick

The semester is over and I feel such a sense accomplishment! I am not sure that I was able to get exactly the grades I would loved to, but I got close. Most importantly, I gave it my all and felt good about my effort. What I’ve learned going back to school is that, it’s one of the most rewarding goals to set because when it concludes you have achieved the goal. You can see it and it’s tangible. Like when I finished Psychology, I am done. No more Psychology 101 EVER AGAIN. I wish that when I was in High School, I would have realized that. Take my history classes that I HATED with a passion. I could have seen it like, once this is over….NEVER AGAIN  There is my lovely message…school is achievable!

So I was driving to the 101 freeway so that I could go to Mesa for a breakfast/luncheon. I was making a turn onto Cactus minding my own business when BAM!! I get hit by a car. I was t-boned because I was in a daze and following traffic. It was my fault, although I was not a happy puppy at the moment. My first responsibility as an adult in recovery had just been demolished. My baby, my pet, my everything was no longer mine….I killed my car…or as my friend Mike said: “She sacrificed herself for you.” I thought about this accident and about the fact that I am alive and breathing. I am so fortunate that I was hit on the passenger side and that I did not have a passenger and that I was not hit either. I am doing my very best to stay as positive as possible about the situation. It is definitely a very humbling experience for me. It is difficult for me to ask for anyone to help me and that is what I have had to be doing for the last few days. Life has taken a major turn and I am so happy that I am not still getting high, because that accident would have been a million times worse then it ended up being. I was talking to my mom yesterday when she was driving me to work and I realized something. I realized that when I got the car it was a turning point in my life…in regards to my recovery and new responsibilities. Losing my car is like another stepping stone for me. I am moving up in the world and because of my hard work and dedication. I learn a lesson everyday and I try to stay as positive as possible all the time. I will hopefully have a new car very soon and it will be my very own car that I bought by myself and that I did not need a co-signer or anyone else to put their name on my car. It will be mine and something that I have working very hard for. There is a positive in every negative, even when it is hard to find.