“Better than when you came in!”
And.
“I remember you from 19th and Dolores, I mean it, you look amazing.”
He said to me with a big grin.
It’s nice to run into folks who remember me from when I first got sober.
I have changed quite a bit.
I mean.
So much.
It’s extraordinary.
Hell, I feel like I’ve changed a bunch in these last four years and certainly since I’ve been in my graduate program with school.
My life really blows my mind at times.
My great job.
My relationships.
My new car.
Um, hello.
I got her washed today.
First of all, fuck, it’s pricey in the city, but oh, man, she looks so pretty when she’s clean and I just know it will keep the life of the car up to take care of it. I’m pretty sure I’m going to go check out the place on Bayshore that you can get a membership to and get unlimited car washes for $29.99 a month.
I paid $33 today at the one on Divisadero.
I got a wash a few weeks back, my last weekend of classes, at the place on Van Ness and that was $30.
The one on Divisadero did a much better job.
However, $33 is a bunch of money.
If I can get unlimited washes at the place on Bayshore for $29.99 a month, I go once and it’s pretty much paid for itself.
It’s a place called Shine-N-Seal.
It’s a bit out of my way, but I was thinking today when I left my group supervision that it’s worth checking out on a day when I’m getting out of group since I’m in the Mission and the Bayshore is not so far away, maybe a ten minute drive.
And after dropping the $33 at the place on Divisadero I’m ready for something a little more economical, especially since I’m realizing how much I really like having my car and I like having her clean.
Like.
A lot.
It’s super nice.
Plus.
Grocery shopping today, being warm, being able to bring more back than when I’m on my scooter, listening to music in the car, I really dig on that.
Anyway.
I have reflected a lot today how good I have it and I’m super grateful for that perspective.
I also got hella sleep today.
I was up for a little while this morning but then decided screw it, back to bed.
I didn’t go to yoga, I have a hard time committing to the instructor for the class I could have gone today, I just do not like his classes and when the option to crawl back into bed was happening, well, I just rolled with it.
I mean.
Fuck.
I felt like a million bucks today.
Super rested.
I got lots of laundry done, all fresh linens on the bed, all my towels done, and a run to the grocery store before I left for supervision.
Which was so chill.
There were only two of us so I got to go over a load of my clients and also check in about some school stuff, intern stuff, applying for my intern number, which will happen after I graduate in May.
Some talk about the PhD program I’m considering going into.
Yeah.
I said that.
I am getting pretty serious about it.
My supervisor at my practicum site told me he would support me through the process, he did the same thing I’m considering, like almost to a “t.”
“Carmen I worked full-time, I ran this place, and I got my PhD at the same time, you can totally do it and I’ll write you a letter of recommendation for the program.”
He went to the same graduate school program that I am in.
He also remembers me from 19th and Dolores.
And basically I got, “baby you’ve come a long way,” in no uncertain terms.
I have done a hell of a lot since getting sober, it is incredible when I think about.
Super grateful.
Over the moon grateful.
Blessed.
Crazy graced.
Lucky as fuck.
I don’t know how else to express it, but that I want to keep doing the deal and staying in the boat and doing the work, man I want to live this life and keep getting to do all sorts of amazing things.
Like get my doctorate in psychology.
Because.
Why the fuck not?
I’m only going to get older.
Plus, I can put off my student loans for a while yet, I have a place to accrue my internship hours, I will go for my MFT license and I will be a licensed MFT with a PhD.
Yes, please.
Today I had a few moments before showing up for group supervision, I went to Gus’s Market and got a salad from the salad bar and some stupid expensive blackberries, but gosh they tasted so nice, and a bottle of bubbly water, because I roll like that, and when I was walking down the hall on the fifth floor to supervision there it was.
“Take a Peek!”
A sign on one of the offices.
Oh yes, yes please.
Let me take a peek.
Look at that.
It was a big office, bigger by far than most of the offices I work in out the building.
I totally took a moment today dream my private office.
The space smelled of fresh paint and had a big window, double the size of most of the offices I am in, and it got sunshine.
I envisioned book shelves and file cabinets and a couch and a therapist chair and a place to have a tea-pot and a little mini fridge and oh, I could put down a nice cozy rug and hang art on the walls.
I just got into it.
It’s years away yet, but it’s not that far down the road.
My own private office, my own private practice.
I’ll be Dr. Martines licensed MFT and psychotherapist.
I’ll set my own hours, so that I can go to yoga in the morning and do the deal whenever I fucking want, I’ll make good money, I will have great health insurance and I will take nice vacations, I’ll have parking in the private garage in the building and live in a home that’s not next to the garage and below a barky dog, oh, man, I can see it.
It’s really not that far off.
It was super sweet to just have that moment in the office and I know that I might not be in that office space, but I will be in one, and I’ll be taken care of as long as I keep doing the things that I need to do to stay in recovery.
My life is fucking amazing.
REALLY.
Luckiest girl in the world.
Auntiebubba 