everyone will face a storm and will look for a safe place to go

sometimes that place is a building, a loved one or a kind word from someone who

has weathered such a storm

i have stood on a porch and watched as the winds tried in vain to dislodge my massive oaks

i have felt the uncertainty of tomorrow as i poisoned myself in total disillusion, out of touch with reality

under the lash of addiction

i have faced the tiger nose to nose and told him i know he could kill me but i wasn’t going to live in fear any longer

He patted me on the shoulder and said ” glad you got to this point, some people never do”

sometimes it can only come from admitting defeat and reaching down inside to find the road-map you thought you didn’t need and starting over

shelter is the accumulation of bits and pieces of experience held together with the mud of past storms survived

we find strength through calamity and that strength will never fail us as long as we accept and appreciate

we where never alone