Tonight he is sitting by himself watching TV. The big picture window now looks out into absolute darkness. Perhaps there are a few lights twinkling on the hillside across the late, but they are far away and difficult to see. Tomorrow morning when the sun comes up he will be able to look across the water at the green hills and the taller mountains behind them. He will make some coffee and sit alone, waiting for his son and daughter to come and join him. He has not been able to have them over for a Thanksgiving meal for ten years.
He is divorced from their mother for about fifteen years. He ran through about thirty women since then. Mostly he ran through about 1000 bottles of Jack Daniels and a couple of pounds of cocaine. That all ended him up in jail as the result of several incidents that he has no memory of being a part of, but that doesn't mean they didn't happen. He realizes that being in prison saved his life. Three years, four months, twelve days.
He's been clean and sober ever since. He has a job now, doing what he knows how to do. At first he went back to the woman who waited for him; the woman he loved in high school, the woman he was with on and off when he was married. But somehow she wasn't that interested in him when he was sober, working, and trying to be stable.
Thankfully, he chose being sober, working and stable instead of great sex and good times. He has run away from six other women during the three years since he was set free.
He found this place. He pays the rent. He breathes deeply and looks at the mist rising from the lake. Tomorrow morning he will put a turkey in the oven and know what thankful means.
I hope everyone else can enjoy the holiday too.
2 comments:
We will. I know we will.
Happy Thanksgiving to you too. I liked your story about the man gazing soberly at the scene in his picture window.
what huge changes he has made, I hope he learns to be happy
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