My husband Keoni has some Dates of Importance among his tattoos. There's the date John hanged himself and Keoni rose from the ashes ("Shifting Paradigms and Half a Pair'o'Dimes")... There's a Lucky Thirteen for our wedding anniversary... And there's December 23, 2008, right below the kanji meaning "A New Life." Today is the anniversary of … Continue reading It’s a Turtle Life
Category: Recovery
Stand down the SWAT Team
A kindergartner might take a glacier's age to put on a single tennis shoe while mom impatiently rattles the car keys in the morning, but put the same kindergartner in a circle with 24 other 5-year-olds and a single tub of crayons, and they move too fast to clock. Like iron filings to a magnet, … Continue reading Stand down the SWAT Team
O Peeing Tree, O Peeing Tree!
The rich singing-voice of my German Grandpa is part of the soundtrack of my childhood. We used to live with my grandparents for the summers, and I remember him tucking me into bed with songs from the 40’s. “I’d rather have a paper doll to call my own than have a fickle-hearted green-eyed girl”… And … Continue reading O Peeing Tree, O Peeing Tree!
Words Have Meaning, Names Have Power
“Proper names are poetry in the raw. Like all poetry they are untranslatable.” ~W.H. Auden I wrote the other day about my husband’s new life with new name, so it seems appropriate to share about mine as well. My given name is Janna, which means “Gift from God.” (And, interestingly enough, is a feminine form … Continue reading Words Have Meaning, Names Have Power
Sailor’s Knot, Compass Rose
Whenever I'm grappling with a difficult decision, my A.A. Sponsor asks me, "What does your gut tell you?" Usually I already know what course of action my “gut” is pointing me toward, but those instincts tend to solidify when she verbalizes them. "Listen to your gut--that's God talking," she tells me. Oh great...God talks to … Continue reading Sailor’s Knot, Compass Rose
Shifting Paradigms & Half a Pair’o’Dimes
When my husband Keoni and I met (in Rehab, of all places!) he was 52 and I was 34. We tend to get reactions from people when we’re out arm-in-arm; it’s an inverse bell-curve, where reactions are heavily loaded at the ends of the spectrum rather than the middle. He either gets fist-bumps, or snide … Continue reading Shifting Paradigms & Half a Pair’o’Dimes
In the Market for a Maker
“Get a God,” I hear repeatedly in the rooms of A.A. “If you don’t get God… You’re wrecked. Your own 'best thinking' got you here, so you'd better get God and follow directions.” I'm told my God can be anything, anything at all with power higher than my own—“hell, even a doorknob,” an old-timer smirks, … Continue reading In the Market for a Maker
Kana's Chronicles 