getting ready

ok, in 17 hours i will be boarding a continental airplane, headed to frankfurt, germany and ultimately, freiburg. this has all come about quite suddenly in the past 6 weeks or so. i had no idea i would be in europe this summer 3 months ago.
i'll give a little background so you can understand how this all came about. i won't go into great detail, just a synopsis of the events leading to this trip.
at the first of the year, i was greeted by a request for seperation from my wife, claudia. she soon moved out, i was alone with myself for the first time in close to 40 years. after getting over the initial shock and deflated ego, and some therapy, i liked it. freedoms i'd not had for a long time. a new way to look at the world, and my own life.
i continued working at my job, doing the things before the separation. not all good things, by the way. this lead to discontent and disdain for my occupation and job. so on march 14, 2008, i had a meltdown, mutherfucked my employers and walked out. it was ugly, but it felt right and i eventually made peace with my former employer.
so no wife, no job, i remained in my apartment with one of our three dogs, savannah belle, a maltese from texas. now what?
well, get up late, read the times liesurly over tea, walk the dog, tend the garden, walk somemore, have a drink at the local. that got old after about a week or two. i did have a planned trip coming up at the end of april, to new orleans for jazzfest. my freind donna had suggested i come down earlier to catch the french quarter fest and other things. why not? so i rebooked for april 10 through the 12th of may. great.
meanwhile at home, i did not like the direction i was heading in, in regards to some of my bad habits. I sought additioanal help from a close freind at the suggestion of my first ex wife, mary vella.
after making a connection with my old buddy brian c., and talking about my issues, he suggested i attend a meeting with him later in the week. yes, one of those meetings...AA. i went to two meetings, and then i had to leave for new orleans. at this point, the meetings felt good and i was heading in to unchartered territory.
now if some one told you they were going to new orleans to clean up, you might fairly think them crazy. sin city..booze 24/7..drive thru daquiri stores..drugs..no disipline, a general free for all. if you want it. well i didn't. and i was going to try a new method.
upon arriving in new orleans i immediately found an AA room around the corner from my place, started attending meetings a few times a week, still drinking, althogh at a much lower intake. i dug the meetings, i was learning a lot, meeting great people. i started attending daily, really getting the message, but still having a few at night. i decided i was going to totally embrace this, just as soon as i got out of new orleans. i liked what i heard and knew it could help me. a higher power was reintroduced in my life, i started to pray.
i was really beating myself up for the seperation, i shared much of the cause. and i was in the city where we got married, where we loved together, had tremendous fun together. so i was miserable. crying at the drop of a hat. depressed.
untilone day at a meeting i heard a speaker and other members shared their woes.shared their good fortune. i had enough of self pity and i put the past behind me. i felt like a new person. in the city i adored.things were going well. lots of walks, bike riding, music every night...and a few drinks.
one night at dba, my local on frenchmen st, i was sitting at the end of the bar. there were 3 german tourists next to me, martin and angela and thier freind, gisi. gisi was giving a going away present to angela, these really cool eating utensils bent inti bracelets and pendants. i commented on how unique i thought they were. martin and angela had been in town for a week, gisi had been there since november. she loved new orleans. we started taking about the town, the food, the music and food. a nice evening, so i gave her my calling card, a few days later she called, we went out. it was great. then the next day and the next day, etc. we really hit it off well and we were having so much fun.by the end of three weeks we were into it pretty good. but i had to leave. as gisi had never been to nyc, i invited her to come stay with me for her last week before she had to return to the fatherland.so i left, cleaned up the apartment and two days later gisi was here in ny. we had a week to see the sights, and we sure did. good times. now it's time to say goodbye. what would we do..email? write? then gisi turned me on to skype..free voip phone thru the internet. what will they think of next?
we started takking daily, for hours on end. then gisi invited me to come to her home in germany, freiberg. why not? i had the time, alittle money and it seemed all right. so i booked sigapore air for a two week stay. after more daily talking we both knew two weks wouldn't cut it. so i rebooked for 6 weeks. so there ya have it.as we continue to talk daily, we wonder if 6 weeks id enough time. we'll se. stay tuned.
so i thought i would write this blog to chronicle our trips, the sights and sound and people of europe.we plan to visit many countrys and cities. i will attempt to write about this trip, give daily thoughts on paper, as it were. it will be fun! ok maybe not for you, but i'm gonna have a blast.
without alcohol or drugs..i'm clean 35 days. i plan to remain that way. please pray on me, would ya?see you in a few days.......