The smartest thing I’ve done while living here in Worcester has to be asking Melinda Lee to move into my house last April. Splitting the rent and utilities has made living here very inexpensive. Very, very inexpensive.
We’ve grown so close as friends that Melinda (a.k.a. Minja) and I are like siblings. I am definitely her big brother and she’s my awesomely weird little sister who loves loud music, painting and poetry. We cook all the time and chat and keep each other’s spirits up. Together we take care of our cat, Roger Mindfucker (named before we got him by the mother of Boston poet Sam Teitel.)
We have so much in common and so much not in common that the blend of the two makes living with each other so easy. I may never have a better roommate.
Tonight she celebrates her three years of sobriety. She is 19 years old. Three years solid. A couple weeks ago she asked me before I left for the west coast if I would be the one to give her the much deserved 3 Year Chip at her meeting. How could I say no? So she pushed back the date until tonight so I could be there to give it to her. It means a lot to me that she would ask, because I know how difficult the last three years have been for her. She’s growing and living and learning like a fucking champion and I am so very proud of her.
I asked her if I could post about this and she was super cool about it. I am sensitive to the anonymous part of AA, but I also believe her story is very inspirational and young people falling into the pits of addiction can learn a lot from her story, one wrought with darkness and sadness. She is overcoming it and I love her so much for who she is and who she will be. She is one of my best friends.
If you have a story, please share it. I am sure Minja will read this, so if you have any words of support or kindness to say to her, please, feel free.
Melinda: You’re so awesome. I love you and I am so glad we’re friends. Congratulations!
———
Word to the nerd.
Bunny up.
Originally published at Mike McGee Town. You can comment here or there.
This entry was written by , posted on 9 February, 2010 at 9:17 AM, filed under Personal Updates and tagged 19 years old, 3 year chip, aa, massachusetts, melinda lee, minja, personal updates, roommate, sobriety, Worcester-Massachusetts. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
Yay. I look forward to meeting her in May.
Serious congrats to her. My roommate is in his late forties and only in the last several years has he gotten his life back together. She’s so ahead of the curve it’s ridiculous. I hope she lives a long time, the way she wants to. Cheers.
Melinda Rocks!!
Melinda, i have to second Mike’s view…
you are awesome!
i am so glad that you are part of my life.
i see a great future for you.
A couple weeks ago she asked me before I left for the west coast if I would be the one to give her the much deserved 3 Year Chip at her meeting.
how. fucking. cool!
i was saying the other night that there are a handful of people in my life that show me, on a day-to-day basis, that The Miracle does happen. Melinda is one of thos people & i am deeply deeply grateful to know her, meow meow. ♥
WOW! She’s way ahead of people twice her age or more.That’s so fantastic!
More and more, I really appreciate the friends around me who are sober.Not like they have their sh* all worked out, but more like they lead the rest of us in HOW TO WORK ON OUR SH* on the daily, and for that, I am so grateful.
I know from my housemates now, sober roomies are really the best!
Congratulations! Keep on SHININ’!
(And, Mike, what a fabulous honor & inspiration).
a HUGE congrats to her, and how awesome for you to get to give her her chip.
I got sober (through AA) at 19. I celebrated 10 years this past fall.
My AA homegroup when I got sober (in New Brunswick, NJ at the time) was filled with college age folks. Some of my friends in early sobriety were 22 with six years under their belts. It was an amazing community.
I don’t go to meetings very often anymore, though I definitely don’t recommend that. Whenever times get hard in my life, though, that’s the first place I show up. I just came home from a nooner today to see this post.
Sobriety is the most amazing thing. They say in the program that drinking/drugging will bring you 3 places: jails, institutions, and death. I have been dangerously close to two of those, and have experienced one more times than I’d like to count. I have no doubt that getting fucked up again would only wreak havoc on my life.
My life is better now than I even could have imagined in my wildest dreams when first getting sober. I may struggle sometimes with not feeling like I have an escape or a way to check out, but that gives me the opportunity to be present through ALL of life.
dear melinda
i was dropped off on your doorstep and you took me in and fed me shrimp scampi and talked with me about being on the road and you took me to the drugstore when i needed cat medicine, plus the burger king drive-thru which hit the spot and i could not have felt more welcome. oh, and the vegan joint. you’re the bomb. i hope to get out yer way again. i’m craving that buffet, dammit.
I have been to 100 open AA meetings and anniversaries
I cannot break anyone’s anonymity now, because he is deceased (NOT from addition, unless you count smoking, but AA is not about that).
I have NEVER, and I repeat NEVER, felt so inspired about living life and feeling spiritual as sitting in a room full of AA members. I left all those anniversaries full of hope and feeling like something must be right in the universe.
The most goosebumpy moment I ever had was at a family Christmas party. I just kept looking around the room at those tables of husbands, wives and kids–thinking how different there lives all were, now that there fathers (not being sexist–mostly it was men at that meeting) were in recovery. It made me feel teary.
I wasn’t romantically involved with him before recovery, and, given my previously relationship and why I fell out of love, probably would not ended up with him before his recovery. Thus, without AA, my son would not EXIST.