In contrast to the Jewish New Year we celebrate in the fall, the secular New Year can seem a bit anti-climactic. We might celebrate it by going out to a party or fancy dinner, and then spend the first day of the New Year sleeping and lazing around. And yet, as we ‘turn the page’ to a new calendar year, we are also habituated to the practice of New Year’s resolutions. Resolve to eat better, lose weight, and exercise more are among the common determinations people make at this time.

“Well we all need someone we can lean on.” That sentiment as sung by the Rolling Stones is universal no matter the life circumstance. In recovery, it is doubly true as those who have worked so hard to become sober now have to relearn (or sometimes learn for the first time) how to survive everyday life without the artificial coping mechanism of their drug or behavior of choice.

Our eldest son started Middle School two weeks ago. What a shock. Not so much for him – for me! He got into the car the first day after cross country, which he all of a sudden decided to take up a few weeks ago, very excited about the day and all the cool things about school. He loves moving around for every class, and because the class makeup changes, he has at least a couple of friends in each. In many ways it seems very much like when I was in junior high back in the late 1970s.