Truly Inspiring!

As I promised, today's post is an inspirational story that my brother, Frank, shared with me yesterday.  We have talked about interventions and I have expressed my belief that there is no value in them.  I truly don't believe that knowing people love and care for you has any bearing when it actually comes down to making choices. Not that it hurts.  But, I know that when I am grabbing that piece of pizza, or somebody is drinking that first drink of the night, or when a junkie is sliding that needle in, that it makes no difference.  I think people have pivotal events in their life that are eye-opening.  Those events might be a car crash, a hospital stay, or some other catastrophic event.  Or they may be as simple as a night at Kohl's shopping for clothing for your son.  There is no rhyme or reason... simply a switch that gets moved from one position to another.  Some event that uniquely moves a person differently than any other event.  And, not everyone experiences that event... or maybe some people just don't have anything that moves them other than the addiction itself.  If you don't understand the Kohl's reference, then please take a few moments right now to read the very first post in this blog.  I will wait...

Some of you may remember playing Sonic the Hedgehog and having Mr. Sonic get irritated and start tapping his foot when you weren't moving and he grew impatient with you.

Okay!  Back?  I think that background helps knowing my motivation and might go towards illustrating how different these pivotal moments can be.  Mine, while moving to me, doesn't hold a candle to the girl's moment in this story.  So, here it is... straight from my brother's e-mail.

"I remember a girl I used to work with that was an alcoholic.  She wasn't a very pleasant person to be around and used to go get hammered every night and drag herself into work all hungover.  That had been going on for 10+ years.  She thought of getting help, but never did.  She already had a few DUIs.  One night, she was a bit tipsy and driving her car.  It was raining out and she pulled up behind someone at a stop sign. She doesn't brake in time and accidentally runs into the back of him.  She gets out and it's pouring.  She begins walking up to the other car.  The guy she hit calmly gets out of his car, walks up to her, gives her a shove and calls her a "stupid bitch".  She falls backwards on her butt and is sitting in the middle of the road getting rained on.  He turns around and gets back into his car and drives away.  She's been sober ever since.  That story gives me chills.  It was as if God himself had gotten out of the car and done exactly what needed to be done for her to finally wake up.  She had a moment of pure clarity and realized what a mess she was and how much of her life she was wasting.  What's amazing is it changed her entire life.  She went from a grumpy, very mean-spirited woman to a nice, calm, very caring person.  And, boy it did wonders for her physically.  She almost glowed after she sobered up.  It was such a transformation."

WOW!  I get chills every time I read that.  Again, not the same kind of story as mine.  Actually, it makes mine seem kind of boring.  Maybe I should have left this out!  lol.  But, my moment had the same impact despite all differences.  Hopefully, her story might actually be the pivotal moment for some of you.  Here's to anyone who is fighting their own personal demons hopefully experiencing their own pivotal moment...