My Love For You by Timothy Gerald Franklin Lawrence

My love for You
is bigger
than a shoe
 The End

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


Look after yourself...without health
you are of no use to anyone.

If I owned this company,
would I hire someone like me?


THREE Angels!

THREE Angels!
Angela, Ash & Janelle

Ab's ( REALLY GOOD) Joke of the WEEK!

A great example of Flawless Male logic —
This is a conversation between a husband and his wife. Please note that she asks five or six questions which he answered quite simply; but, then she is speechless after answering only one question.

Woman: Do you drink beer?
Man: Yes.

Woman: How many beers a day?
Man: Usually about three.

Woman: How much do you pay per beer?
Man: $5.00 which includes a tip (this is where it gets scary!).

Woman: And how long have you been drinking?
Man: About 20 years, I suppose.

Woman: So a beer costs $5 and you have three beers a day which puts your spending each month at $450. In one year, that would be approximately $5400, correct?
Man: Sounds Correct.

Woman: If in 1 year you spend $5400, not accounting for inflation, over the past 20 years puts your spending at about $108,000, correct?
Man: Again, sounds about right.

Woman: Do you know that if you didn’t drink so much beer, that money could have been put in a step-up interest savings account and after accounting for compound interest for the past 20 years, you could have now bought an airplane?
Man: Could be true. Do you drink beer?

Woman: No.
Man: Where is your airplane?

for Kenneth Mayo

Hope AND SWIM !

When I fall into an ocean, I know with certainty


That I am wet and startled will at once be plain to me


But will I sink or will I swim...to the depths or to the shore?


Perhaps a log will come drifting by, or a boat out on a tour?


I could hope as I was sinking, but I’d still drop to the floor


And hoping would I be, for logs and tour boats evermore


So I think I’ll set my sights on land and give my legs a kick


And stroke though I am weary, my decision will I stick


While Hope sustains the helpless whose outlook is often dim


Hope also fuels the Faithful, giving Strength to those who swim


So even if I falter against this fearsome tide of health


The shores of my fulfillment rise beneath me in my stealth


I’m hopeful for the strength and the courage not to give in


I thank the Lord for Faith and my resolve to hope AND swim!


My prayers and God’s Blessings be with you my friend!

Timothy Lawrence

Abraham Stainer Esq.

Abraham Stainer Esq.
a.k.a. "Ab"

Tinker-Timmy & Friends

Tinker-Timmy & Friends
Jan'l. Angeela, Ash and Ab

Monday, December 22, 2008

Functionality -19


Morning Friend,
The Festive Season provides many challenges and opportunities for people of all stripes, but none more so than the "functioning" alcoholic.
If you're not familiar with the "functioning" adjective as it pertains to alcoholics, I'll enlighten you from my own experience and perspective if I may?
The clichéd image of an alcoholic; unwashed and curled up in an alley semi-consciously swigging "Bingo" out of a brown paper bag, is a convenient and invaluable scapegoat to the "functioning" drunk, who considers himself a "better man" than the wino.
While he still holds on tenuously to his job, his home, his relationships, his finances, his dignity, AND can manage to get a drunken glow on every day, he certainly has the right to consider himself "better" than "some drunk on Main Street" !?
I certainly did....and was wrong.
A man plunging towards the depths of ruin is NO BETTER than one already there, he's just "running a little late".
And "running late" was just one of the many "hallmarks" of my days of "functioning".
Forever late was I for EVERYTHING from work, dates, appointments and opportunities, to even ( shudder) CLOSING TIME at the bar!
Now "lateness" is not the exclusive property of alcoholics but it IS reflective of ones' "functioning" nature because the alternative is to NOT SHOW UP AT ALL, which is not only NOT conducive to maintaining any long term relationships or careers, but is often the "stepping off point" to "dysfunctional alcoholism" and its' inherent and inevitable peril.
If I had been more prudent in my "functionality" I would have made extra efforts to NOT be late, and therefore avoid the spotlight on such "warning signs", but the insidiousness and exponentially destructive nature of the disease is that you gradually LOSE CONTROL, starting with the simplest things like hearing your alarm go off, until you eventually have no reason to own one.
"Thankfully", I discovered and embraced Christmas as a GOLDEN JUSTIFICATION for being absent, late, disheveled, forgetful, shaky, or even drunk at any and all hours of the day or night.
- Having a "Christmas DRINK" is a quaint Yuletide tradition that afforded me the justification for what would otherwise have been a "Tuesday DRINK" or a "Wednesday WHAT-THE-HELL", which sound far too "alcoholic" as opposed to "festive"?
- A PARTY was always the perfect opportunity to "free pour" my way into raucous oblivion in the guise of being filled with "Christmas Spirit".
- Three or more days off work consecutively was perfectly good reason to get "bent" at any time of the year, but during the Yuletide it's called "Making Merry".
- You don't "stop by" peoples houses or have visitors at this time of year without there being a "shot" of something offered.
- The "stress" of shopping ALWAYS called for a few "pops" to steel the nerves before heading to the mall, a "nip" in a nearby bar for sustenance when you're halfway done, and of course the celebratory "6 pack" when you're home and wrapping.
- Those darn "statutory" holidays were BLACK HOLES in my well functioned routine, which always meant stocking up on plenty of "Christmas Booze" so there was absolutely no risk of an unforgivable lapse in "jolliness"!
- The hangovers precipitated by the imbibement of the ARRAY of Seasonal Specialties like rum, brandy and wine IN ADDITION to my usual mandated intake of beer, were exquisite and extraordinary in their magnitude.
These "challenges and opportunities" ROBBED me of many Christmas memories my friend because, I can't remember them.
From my early to mid 20's on( when I became "fully functional"), most of my Christmases are drunken blurs. I might just as well have been curled up with a brown paper bag.
Oh I'm sure I wasn't stumbling around incontinent and incoherently blitzed, but when you're coming off a drunk, take REQUIRED PAUSES for things like an 8 hour shift or family Christmas gift opening, and then get drinking again at the first opportunity, you're not exactly SOAKING UP life and all its' beauty and majesty to the fullest.
I was functioning. The Birth of Christ...the love and fellowship of my family....the "Magic" of the season, all took a back seat to maintaining my functional level of inebriation....no "better", than ANY man.
I might just as well have been semi-conscious in an alley, WITHOUT all the "challenges and opportunities".
Which is why this Christmas I'll look not under the TREE for the "gift" which already dwells in my heart and mind.
I give thanks for it EVERY morning.
It is a daily reprieve and a gift from God.
It is the greatest gift I ever have or will receive, and I pray that SOMEONE; a lost soul in the street, a young person with difficulties, a heavy drinker who is finding it increasingly difficult to "function", may discover as I have that life is simpler....and sweeter....when you are FREE !
Happy Birthday Jesus!
Love tImMy :/

“Laugh as much as you breathe
and love as long as you live." ( Festively)
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Life Stories

Life Stories by Tim Lawrence

The end of life…is not!

It is the end of a Chapter in a Grand, Spiritual, Novel !

These chapters called “life”, are enriching, engrossing
narratives of one’s earthly adventures.

In them, are an abundance of supporting characters and
supplementary plot elements, often curiously overlapping
and mysteriously intertwining.

Their length and depth varies from person to person;
from protagonist to protagonist.

Some people who have “died” in chapters ended many years
ago, are still quite “alive” today!

Their SPIRIT; their influence, their charisma, their wisdom,
their character, their enthusiasm, their joy, their ESSENCE....
continues to fill the “life pages” of all they’ve touched.

Their frail and finite physical chapter is ended, but the richness
of their story flourishes, and enhances God’s Novel!

Like timeless passages, indelibly marked in our hearts and
memories, to be re-read and forever treasured….
their lives never truly “end”!

When through God’s Mercy, the earthly narrative of someone
we love, ends….their life does not!

And for that, we are truly blessed!

* Dedicated with gratitude and love to the enduring Spirit of all who transcend fear and inspire faith by truly living God’s gift of life to the fullest!! T.L.