Road Trip



I've just finished a heavy stretch of night shifts in my various emergency departments, and find myself with seven days ahead of me with no work. Time for a road trip.

After I drop the dog off at the kennel (poor Skipper!) I am gassing up and heading up I-81. While usually any time spent north of the Mason-Dixon line induces uncomfortable hives (with time in New Jersey tending towards full-blown anaphylaxis), I believe this time around  I am protected. Each upcoming day will be spent with a friend or family member  whom I haven’t seen in years, but with whom I have a lifelong spiritual connection. A medical school roommate. An aunt. A fraternity buddy. A high school friend. People are like antiquities- they seem to grow more valuable with the passage of time. For 1,320 days I have hunkered down, done what it takes, worked my program of recovery, and successfully stayed inside my routine. But now it is time to put Virginia in the rearview mirror, at least for a week.

Recovery-wise, by this point I feel like I have evolved to somewhere between young padawan and Jedi master. Conversations will move quickly beyond the smalltalk and into the heart of what matters in our lives. I relish these next days. Tales will be told of the glory days of youth; we will get up to speed on current lives, current family, current challenges, current joys. I will sleep in the guest rooms of the homes of those I rejoice with, then after breakfast I’ll  jump into my zippy little sedan, drive to my next destination, and do it all over again. I am truly blessed to have an extended circle; because, after all, I could have never accomplished what I have done in sobriety alone. They were there for me all the while, even from from a distance.

At week's end  I will come home, recharged, and do what it is that I do. And be thankful I can do it. Sober.

He'd headed west cause he felt that a change would do him good
See some old friends, good for the soul...

-Bob Seger, "Hollywood Nights"




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