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, April 20, 2009

Counting - 32


Morning Friend,
I've never been a real "Math" kind of guy..."English"; ( or the butchering of same), has always been more my forte.
I was told early on in sobriety by more than one A.A. member that it was NOT a good idea to COUNT the days, as in, " I haven't had a drink in 11 days....that's about as long as my worst bender!"....or "I haven't had a drink in 3 days....that's how long it's taken me to recover from my last 11 day spree!"....or "I've just beaten by old record of 11 days...time to celebrate with a 3 day tilt!".
I believe the reasoning behind such a suggestion is that it takes one's focus AWAY from the all-important TODAY; which I can say from my experience in "early" sobriety, was about the only thing my "shell-shocked" brain and shattered countenance had the ability to focus ON.
And that makes perfect sense really.
What good are "a thousand wonderful yesterdays" to a man strapping himself aboard a Hell-bound hand-basket TODAY?
When the sun sets on TODAY, will I have frittered it away, selfishly patting myself on the back for yesterday's "glory"?
Who besides war heroes and crazy people get a "free pass" TODAY to do whatever they want due to "past considerations" ?
The truth of the matter is that a recovering drunk with a thousand sober yesterdays having a drink TODAY, is nothing more than a drunk, ( again), and those thousand days won't even get him a "free one".
I get it.
I also get that TODAY, spent bettering the world and myself, is preferable to a day of self-aggrandizement.
Lord knows there's no shortage of work to be done in both cases, but the area of "self improvement" is probably the better starting point since I'm about the only one qualified ( and interested), in correcting my own annoying habits, personality flaws, and all round garden variety character defects.
When you think about it, one more "better PERSON" makes a "better WORLD" , so the "global ramifications" of human activity are not ALL environmental. ( I suppose you could say I'm partly "responsible" for GLOBAL SOBERING !? )
Alas my friend as you might have suspected from Yours Truly.... the "helpless convention flaunter" that I am. I do...COUNT my days.
I count the days, each like a precious gift; each more wondrous and beautiful, and less daunting and uncertain than the ones before it.
You'll note I've said it was "suggested" that I don't, and I can see how some poor soul who is constantly "slipping" and "re-starting" and "relapsing" and "re-counting" and losing count and over-counting and not counting a sip of wine in the count, and count on the count....end up getting COUNTED OUT!
But for me, counting WORKS....and that's really the bottom line.
For a "recovering incorrigible liar" like myself, who on any given day - back in "the day" - could tell ten different people, ten different stories about how much I had or hadn't had to drink, ( and they'd ALL be B.S.!), I carry around the knowledge of EXACTLY the number of days I've been sober like the "priceless treasure" that the TRUTH is.
For a "recovering coward" like myself, who wallowed in drunken self-pity and fear for over 9,000 days, I count each day as another in a series of humble but hard-fought VICTORIES.
For a "recovering fool" like myself, who squandered God-given talents and opportunities until my very dignity was but a crumbling shell, I can now look eye-to-eye with anyone and rattle off the count with deep gratitude, dead reckoning, and immense PRIDE.
For a "recovering alcoholic", who at one time couldn't manage ONE sober day, I think it's worth mentioning that today the count is at 1,400.
Not an OVERLY IMPRESSIVE statistic by any standards, and I only really mention it because it's a nice "round" number and it happens to coincide with 46 MONTHS which happened to coincide with "Musing Monday".
If you do nothing but sit back and tick off your "sober" days on the calendar, you might end up improving your math skills, but little about your heart and soul will change for the better.
It's been said that if you sober up a drunken horse-thief, you're still left with a thief. ( and probably not your horse !? )
So hand in hand with each day of sobriety has been, and MUST be a conscientious and ongoing effort at "Tim-improvement".
Each numbered day is a granite boulder of the foundation upon which I construct my TODAYS.
For ME, the size of each new day's construction "project" is directly proportional to the foundation I've laid, and in 1,400 days I've gone from bird-houses to CASTLES!
Never forgetting of course the ONE fundamental rule of the "global" job site.....
....NO "inconvenient FIFTHS" !
love tImMy:/
Laugh as much as you breathe
Love as long as you live ( adding up)

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.