Today is my birthday, and yes, I am feeling very old, although I know that I shouldn’t. As much as I am not looking forward to birthdays anymore, I have many reasons to be very thankful for this one. For starters, I am blessed to have an amazing family that has never left my side through all my shenanigans and have sacrificed a lot, especially emotions to get me through this incredible struggle with alcoholism. I found it easier to deal with not only with a great family, much better than I deserve, but also giving myself to the program of AA, something I never did as I “white knuckled” the first months of sobriety. I found a new meeting two days ago filled with really great people that welcomed me like a family member. To any addict reading this, it is important to find meetings that fit your style, otherwise, you are going through the motions and it doesn’t really help you. Also, I am grateful that this is the first birthday since I was 17, that I have been sober. That is a horrible fact to think about, but since I don’t want to dwell on the past, I just have a new future to look forward to. I fit into clothes that I haven’t been able to fit into since high school, and am loving every minute of it.
The other thing I am grateful for is I found out that I am getting a dog for my birthday from my parents. I am obsessed about dogs and have had a major hole in my heart for two years since my fiancee left me, and took my dog with her to another state. I haven’t seen my little pug now in two years, and I have to say, it has been a major source of sorrow for me, and a major trigger for me to drink. Knowing I am going to get another little buddy (a pug) to take care of, makes me incredibly happy. It will take some time to find the right pug, from the right place, but it will be a little bundle of joy. Since I am finding out that I have a small following of readers, I am asking for help to name the little guy. My last pug was named Quigley. I still love him dearly and I love Irish names as I am half mick. (and no that doesn’t have anything to do with being an alcoholic). My brother, parents and I have been thinking of names and I am going to list a few and why we thought of them. These are just a few. It will be a boy pug, only because I had a boy before and I know how to handle it easier than a female dog. Please comment if you have any name ideas!!
Quinn- Short for “The Mighty Quinn.” (Irish and cute for a little pug)
Flynn- Also Irish and from Jeff Bridges from the movie “Tron”
Jules/Vincent- From “Pulp Fiction”
Max- Short for Mad Max, everybody knows that.
Duke- John Wayne
Jeff- My brother’s pick as having a dog with a human name is just cute.
Paulie/Rocky/Mick- From the movie “Rocky”.
Reggie- Paul Newman’s character in the movie “Slapshot”.
Ace- From “Casino”
Maverick/Jester- From “Top Gun”
These are just a few, and I have a while to decide, but I am very excited. On another note, Bears/Titans on Sunday with Rex starting at QB. I like Rex Grossman even though he is accident prone and too small to be an effective NFL QB, but through all the boos and press conferences after bad games, he never blamed anyone but himself, even when it wasn’t his fault. He stood there like a man and took all that crap on his shoulders and kept coming back. That is great character in my eyes, and if not for the Bears, I would love for him to become a great quarterback someday. In a time when NFL players are crying, cursing, backstabbing teammates, Rex was a great example of maturity in a league that desperately needs it. Cub fans have more reason to cry as the economy is hurting the sale of the Cubs and one man that might actually do everything he can to win a world series, Mark Cuban, probably won’t get a chance to buy, as a report has stated that Bud Selig won’t let him. Looks like even MLB even wants the Cubbies to suck. Someone had better buy this team fast, before Wrigley Field finally says enough and falls apart during a home game. The only reason Cub fans would be pissed would be because a collapse like that might interfere with their cell phone signals…..
Also, one last thing, my earlier post I made a mistake and said the Padres were going win the World Series. I meant the Phillies, but I was reading an article on the Padres while I was writing so I had a braindead moment. I got a comment about and I want to thank that person “HawaiinPun” for finding the error and calling me out on it. Also thanks for reading. I am happy some people find this blog entertaining.