By: Marc McMahon

Spring is here, it’s in season, and in my step. You know 13 months ago I was not doing too well. There was no spring in my step back then, no smile on my face, and no friends on my friend list, but all of that has seriously been starting to change for the better. I removed the drugs from my life and my recovery is removing the garbage they left behind. The bad attitude, bad behaviors, and a very bad mouth. Recovery is cleaning my house so to speak and teaching me the new behaviors I needed to learn and am still learning. Definitely a work in progress.

I think the words learning and recovery go hand in hand for a lifetime if one is expected to be successful at it anyway. If I ever seem to have gotten unteachable someone please slap me and tell me to get a grip because I have so much to learn, a lifetime to live and only half the lifetime left to do it in so I intend on doing it right to the best of my ability and one thing all my past relapses have taught me is that I Must Remain Teachable or my recovery stops progressing. At least I have found it to work that way for me.

You know today I took a trip to Walmart to buy a new lock for my new bike when at the bus stop as I was opening the package and pulling out the parts I found two keys in there that go with the lock for opening it I was like cool so I put one in my wallet as a spare and one on my keychain. It was as I was adding my new key to my keychain that I noticed it. I have enough keys on my keychain now that when I hold them they jingle. You know the sweet little sound keys make when you pull them out of your pocket to use one? Ya, that sound.

You see when your a homeless drug addict about the only keys you may have in your pocket will be ones you have either found or stolen. I mean I never needed a key to open my cardboard box, or my tent, or to get into the shelter to sleep. So there was never any real need for a keychain hence no sound of keys jingling. But in recovery, this is all starting to change. At first, I just had my apt and mailbox key. But now I also have the two keys that go to my bike locks so that makes four keys I have now. That is enough keys to fill my little key ring and jingle jangle when I pull them out and that is an awesome sound.

That sound yesterday not only prompted me to write this article but also put one heck of a smile on my face. Easily amused you might say, maybe. Or, maybe since it has been over a decade since I have had enough keys in my possession to make that sound could they be a gift. Could it be that the keys I am amassing, the ones who sing that jingly song each time I pull them out. Could they be much more symbolic than that?

Could it be that these keys are a gift of my new recovery, this new life? And each time I add a key to my key ring it is as if my recovery is giving me a pat on the back. A small gift, a token of its appreciation? I think so because that is exactly how I see it. Next key could be a darn car key in my future how crazy would that be. To get my license back one day and actually own a car again. Do you know I have not owned a car since the year 2009. I have not driven in almost ten years now due to my addiction. Wow! But that is the past. In my future, this new life, the opportunities are endless so it would not surprise me the least to get my license back in the next couple of years you just watch God and my recovery work as I continue to kick this diseases ass from one side of the country to the other!

Well, I think that is about enough out of me for one day but thank you all so much for taking the time out of your day for me. It means so much to me that you all even pay attention to my blog so thank you all again from the bottom of my heart. I love you all, please stay blessed my friends.

About The Author: Marc is a 48-year-old Author, Speaker, and Soldier in a war to loosen the grasp that Substance Abuse has on our society. He is a Father, Son, and friend to all those seeking refuge from this incorrigible disease. Marc resides in the beautiful Pacific Northwest where he enjoys, writing, hiking, and kicking the disease of addiction in the teeth, every chance he gets. As Marc always likes to say, “be blessed, my friends!”