You never know your impact

Last week, I was blessed to be introduced to a new mentor in our Drug Court program.  I liked him right away, and I quickly surmised that he's been to hell and back...and is now on the other side.  Praise God for Recovery!! Well, this week, in front of Judge Clark, the ADA, the head of CPS, and a lot of caseworkers, he stated to me, "I now realize where I know you from.  You were one of my therapists at BHC."  I told him, "Oh no. I hope I'm not the person that made you want to use drugs!" (It got a chuckle. I think Michael could agree.  Some days I might drive him to drink; wink wink). Anyway, this fella was seriously dependent on morphine. Big time. He literally had his lungs shut down and was on life support for 7 days.  His nurse told him that it was a miracle that he was alive.  He told me that he got a lot of benefit out of my groups. That's always rewarding.  But the biggest compliment I got was the following:  He stated, "Yeah, when I was at BHC, I thought to myself...this lady can't really be this happy, can she? I figured you were just trying to be that way for us, 'cause we were all depressed.  But I come here, now I'm on the other side, and I see for myself. You really ARE that happy all the time!" Totally made my day. I told him that no, I'm not always happy. I told him a little about my mother and how even out of that loss I received blessings; one being that I realize how precious time is, and I choose not to waste it with being depressed and feeling sorry for myself. Happiness is a CHOICE!  And as much as I loathe cancer, that's one positive lesson that cancer taught me.  What blessings have your hard times taught YOU?  As long as we learn the lesson, we grow.  LIFE IS DESSERT!!!