Putting On the Brakes

My husband and I are both in Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA). I came into Program 24 years ago, and the man who would become my husband came in four years later. When he had been in the program for six months, we both attended a Thanksgiving fellowship meal together, and at that time, he asked if we could go on a date. I said yes, and we planned a date for the weekend coming up. After I talked with my sponsor about it, she gave me the suggestion to honor his one year of abstinence, so our date was postponed.

We did have that date after his one year of abstinence, and I found friendship and romance I hadn’t experience in many years. After dating for a year, we got engaged, and six months later we had a beautiful abstinent wedding. On our first anniversary, we made a plan to go Disneyworld in Florida, but before the trip, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Putting abstinence first, as this is my primary disease, I weighed and measured my food, and I went to treatment, postponing the trip.

When we finally went on that trip to Orlando, we fell in love with Florida. Seven years later, we both retired and moved there. Over time though, my husband’s eyesight started to diminish. We ended up selling our home, his boat, and his truck so we could move to an area closer to our FA meetings, as he no longer drove and had to use a golf cart to get around.

One day, I was driving to the store and that familiar squeak sounded with our brakes. My husband said he could fix it and asked to go to the Auto Zone store. I took him, and as he came back to the car, he said he had everything he needed to fix the brakes. As we were driving home the thought crossed my mind: how is this going to work with his eyesight as it is? I left him in the garage with the car jacked up and went into the house. A little while later I went back to the garage, and there he was, cursing loudly. I asked what was wrong and he said, “I was always able to do this brake job but I just can’t see well enough now.” I got a rug, sat next to him, and said, “can I help?” After he explained to me what needed to be done, I told him I would do it, but I recommended we watch a Youtube tutorial first. Together, we went back to the car, and wouldn’t you know it, I was putting on the brakes of our car at 75 years old! He handed me what I needed and told me how to complete the repair. Afterwards, I took the car on a test drive in our neighborhood and all was well.

Life has had, and continues to have, lots of stops and starts. But with abstinence, my fellowship and my Higher Power, all things are possible. I just don’t eat, no matter what, and it all gets better.