After years in a dark place, God has given me the gift of recovery. One of the fruits has been the blossoming of my relationship with my son. It has been my privilege to be with him in his recovery.

At a recent SA convention, my son and I shared a room. One morning we were processing the excitement of hearing a speaker who had shared on Tradition One: Personal progress for the greatest number depends upon unity. My son had an epiphany, one of those “Aha” moments.

“Dad, I’ve been practicing the Traditions with my band! I wondered why things had been going so well for us. There is no divisiveness, and people have commented to me how they can feel the love in our music and words. Our harmony is tighter, closer than I’d ever hoped it would be. The amazing thing is that I didn’t even know I was doing this Traditions thing, but we were all feeling the benefits.”

My experience with the Traditions has been the same. They work on me until they become integral to my way of being. That is what others find attractive about me. For that I’m thankful.

Dream Job

I have watched my parents working their Twelve Step programs for years. They watched me with sorrow as I walked through some very dark places with the same addiction. After losing that last bout with lust, I attended an SA meeting with Dad. I got a sponsor of my own and started working those same Steps and learning those principles.

I’m a musician. For a long time I had been living on air, hope, and bad promises. Suddenly, my dream gig came open. A tour of the world, the glamour, the money, the fame. What an opportunity! I passed it up. It seemed important to me to put my new principles before “stage” personalities.

Instead, I took a job at a camp for teenagers as a cook. I began to feel a strong pull to continue working with these kids. Mysteriously, a job became available. No world tour—just my home group, my friends, and satisfying work. I believe that this was because I turned down something good, and God gave me something better.