What Eddie C. Said
I am usually ‘Mr. counting my blessings every 10 minutes’. Paying my best attention – as the Buddhists say, noticing, noticing, noticing – and taking note of how gorgeous the day and planet can be, is in fact when that is where as a species we all go. A guy I knew long ago, Eddie C., a guy who helped me out a lot in the growing up and not taking myself too seriously and the blessing counting department, he use to say, “As long as I don’t pick up the first drink and work on taking care of myself the best I can, it’s impossible for me to have a bad day.”
That was a hard one to believe back in the late 80’s, early 90’s, but he hung with a crowd that said if you want what we have you do what we do, and I hung with that crowd too and I wanted what he had – especially that no bad days thing – so I tagged along and listened most of the time, and more and more as the second hand swirled the circumference of the clock and weeks and months and years passed, I moved closer to that “no bad day” place.
Today was an anniversary of sorts – 38 years way back to my last drink and my last drug. I think there is some connection, maybe an itty bitty one, between the want we we have and no bad days crowd and the abstinence thing. Then again, there are days when I don’t know nothing about nothing.
It was amazingly beautiful in Portland today – sunny, high 70’s, balmy and Spring blooming out all over. I got to wake up again and pray on the cushion for a grateful heart and sit in the meditation chair with my swirly and usually gentle mind, drink a few cups of delicious coffee, walk in the wetlands, and even play a little baseball with my son. If Eddie C. was still around he’d be saying, “See, Buddy, I told you. You don’t pick up the first drink and you try to do the best you can and you get these days and they add up and become cumulative and your brain fissures and synapses dance around, you get new eyes, and, told ya, No Bad Days.”
I’m still trying to do what he did and get what he got. Because, truth is, I’m not there yet. Not this sunny day.
You seem to be in a deeply introspective phase…..I can relate. Growing older and reliving memories-both good and bad. Analyzing the “what ifs” of our lives. Celebrating the victories and trying to find lessons in the defeats. Keep on your path, brother. It’s a good one.
Amen my friend
My buddy used to always say “The world is the constant, the only variable is how we look at it”
Wish I could remember that sometimes but I do much better than I used to
Blessing to you.