I must continue from my last post, something occurred to me on my walk that is lacking from the last post. I think that everyone who deserves credit ought to get it. if you read my last post, you saw another mention of the recurring character known as heady Mike (of new jersey). There is another character (also from New Jersey) who did not get the full paragraph that heady Mike got, despite being equally as instrumental to not only my ticket to saturday’s Sound Tribe Sector 9 show in Bushwick, but also my Ticket back to Alcoholics Anonymous.
I believe it was the summer of 2022, when I was out doing that thing where I steal an ungodly amount of Air Duster from everywhere in New York that it’s possible to steal it from, so that I can huff my way into oblivion (if only momentarily). Well, I was in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn, where I had passed out or seized in public. Bystanders did what they always do, and called an ambulance and I was taken to Woodhull, maybe the worst hosipital i’ve ever seen in NYC (trust me i’ve been to them all). The ER people took my clothes and put me in one of those hospital gowns. Hours later they informed me that I wouldn’t be leaving, as I was being committed for mental health concerns…upstairs I went. Not only was I being treated for insanity, but I tested positive for COVID 19, so I was held against my will for a week.
Besides my immediate family, I called Heady Mike (of New Jersey). Mike informed me that our mutual friend Ryan had recently come back from a brutal run of drug abuse (the kind that i can really relate to), and would love to hear from me. I spoke to Ry at length during my hellish week in the ghetto psych floor (in the ghetto). The kid gets it: jails, institutions, homelessness, suicidal ideations… one of us.
Years passed since then, and I got whatever version of sober someone can be if they are prescribed pharmaceutical amphetamines (if weed is California sober, I don’t know what adderall is). Well, the “adderall sober” didn’t go well, and lead to it’s chemical cousins, which is a whole host of stories for another time. I kept writing, I got singing, and all of this other creative stuff came out of me. Ryan was always supportive, and said he was an avid reader of this very blog, which i’m still surprised that anyone reads (and honored).
He told me that when he met me (I must’ve been 3–4 years actual sober at the time), that I was someone who he looked up to. He told me that, days before I actually found myself at the meeting that has become my home group, where I make coffee and found a sponsor.
A few things happened that made me rethink my foolish rebellion against the only thing that had ever kept me sober and happy in my life. I intend to write about all of them at some point, if I can stay doing what i’m doing (i see no reason to stop). One of the things was the conversation I had with Ryan, maybe six weeks ago.
Sound Tribe was fun, and I was grateful that Ryan and Mike got me in… but they both did a lot more than that just by being good examples of recovery.
