Miracles Happen

My face lit up like a Christmas tree!! I couldn't believe it and I was so very happy and excited. You may remember back in December I wrote a newsletter about Teri. She was one that reminded us of our Core Value, you never run out of chances. Teri ended up going to prison and when she got out, she was struggling to get it right this time. Shortly after sending that newsletter, she quit coming. We just never saw her again. Of course, our fear was that that she had relapsed and returned to her old life style. In the backs of our minds, we hoped. We hoped that she was okay and had moved forward, but we didn't know.

Friday she walked through our door with a huge grin on her face! I was so happy to see her that I just ran over to give her a great, big hug. So happy to see her. 

Teri began to fill me in on her life. First of all, she drove up in the van that she had just bought!! She is living in a house with 3 dogs, had on her new glasses and was so happy and proud of herself. She has reunited with her son and they have been to the mall together twice! I asked her if she was staying sober. She nodded and said, "That's why I am here. It's hard and I am trying really hard." As she continued she said, "Do you know what did it? I was dumpster diving! I was doing what I used to do, and I thought 'what am I doing? I don't have to do this anymore. This is not who I am anymore,'" So, she came to the PARC.

As Teri shared her journey, she told me that the way she had succeeded was by buying coloring books. She bought a ton of coloring books and art supplies and that is what she has been doing to stay sober and to keep moving forward. The skills she learned here are the ones that she took with her! I just love that!

Teri is a miracle. A true miracle that I never dreamed I would see. If it had not been for our core value of 'never running out of chances' we would not have seen it. She was probably the closest one we have ever had that we actually considered trespassing. But because of our core value we knew that we couldn't. And here she is. We watched a true miracle walk through our doors on Friday! What a glorious place this is.