SIX

With the news of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death by heroin overdose, climbing drug use in our country, drug-related deaths across our border and friends with unending alcohol problems, I turn six years old tomorrow. Six years of sober life. It seems like an eternity on some days…  Other times, I feel like I’ve never felt before. The tastes are sweeter, colors brighter… I actually experience things now. In the last six years of skating pools, I’ve broken my collarbone and had other serious injuries. I haven’t taken one pain pill. I haven’t had one drink. Resolve. When I entered the VA Hospital in 2008, I was a full-blown pile of dung. I was dishonest, unreliable, self-deluded and selfish beyond comprehension. After years of AA, step work, therapy for PTSD and many hours of helping others, I feel quite the opposite of all that I was. I still mess up and hurt people. I try not to do it but sometimes I just blow it. I want to keep being a better human being… So, I go on. I tell you these things because I want to stay accountable. Public. I’m only as sick as I am secret so… TA said, “Get out of the pollution and in the solution.”  I’m continuing to do just that. Thank you to MRZ for the images and Brandon Wong for the hook up. Thank you for reading and supporting what I do.  Skate- Ozzie