Broke Back, but Sober... Laughter Wins

His Starbucks Coffee had the name Patricia on it, his leftover food on his chair to the left of his foot was handed to him by a passerby, he broke his back.... but, he had humor and sobriety on his side.

Jason, who is on the streets of Seattle, Washington, knows that laughter helps him and others make it through the ups and downs in life.

A 2017 article in Forbes Magazine by David DiSalvo highlighted the pros to laughing and feeling good noting:

1. Laughter is an endorphin releaser

2. Laughter forms social bonds

3. Laughter fosters brain connectivity

4. Women typically laugh 126% more than men

5. Men usually instigate laughter

6. Laughter activates the release of the neurotransmitter serotonin

7. Laughter helps your heart... it has an anti-inflammatory

“Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Continue to learn. Play with abandon. Choose with no regret. Laugh! Do what you love. Love as if this is all there is.”

— Mary Anne Radmacher-Hershey

Albert is Sober

On a cool May morning he quietly sat next to the sidewalk in front of a McDonalds in Nashville. As cars pulled away with their breakfast, he would smile and give a wave. But, I wanted to know more about him than his simple wave.

As we talked he would lean his head back as if that helped to recall old memories. “I started drinking when I was 2 years old,” he told me. Unable to believe him I had to ask if he meant 2, as in the number after 1. He smiled and reconfirmed, “2.”

“I’m from Mississippi and my parents were cotton farmers. When I was 2 (in 1955) they’d feed me a shot of whiskey and I’d fall asleep while they worked the fields,” he explained.

He gave me insight into his life and told me he eventually landed in Memphis, TN and got married. His wife died in the not so far away past. After she passed away he moved to Nashville in search of employment and sobriety. He went through a program in LaVergne, Tennessee where he got sober, but the employment didn’t last. But, he has been sober for 8 months now.

Albert is 64 years old and sober for one of the first times in his life, which is huge.

"The best way out is always through."- Robert Frost

Sober and Alive

Sobriety is a big thing in the lives of many. Others simply don’t understand the struggle.

Thomas Jefferson, yes… that is his real name, understands the reality of the struggle, but noted that it gets easier and easier over time. Thomas has been sober for eleven years. He once lived under a bridge during his drinking days, but those days are long behind him. Today he has his own place.

A tattoo of rosary beads and a cross wrapped around his right hand reminds him of his mother who was a devout Catholic. A bear claw necklace is around his neck along with a cougar tooth weaved into his hair. Both are from Indian mythology with the cougar being legendary to the Seminoles and the Shawnee tribes. The Pueblo tribes saw the cougar as a directional guardian. As for the bear claw, it represented a protector and symbolized courage, physical strength and leadership among Indians.

“I personally believe this: We have only today; yesterday's gone and tomorrow is uncertain. That's why they call it the present. And sobriety really is a gift... for those who are willing to receive it.” ― Ace Frehley, former lead guitarist and founding member of the rock band Kiss