In 1988, through the grace of God, I was fortunate to receive a second chance at living. At that time, my essence had been buried under many years of drug and alcohol addiction. An addiction that was covering up a lifetime of shame, guilt, anger and fear, among other self destructive and unresolved feelings. A series of events led me to enter recovery, instead of dying. I felt like I was literally able to restart my life by beginning to learn, to think, cope and behave differently. As my recovery progressed, I realized that in order for me to improve as well as maintain these positive changes, I had to remember what it was that I was working on changing, from my thoughts, my ways of dealing with my feelings, my self opinion. It has always been just too damn easy for me to resort back to old ways of being that I’ve always been used to. In other words, “…I can’t forget where I came from, or I will be doomed to repeat.” I learned to practice the power of remembering by telling my story as well as hearing the stories of other recovering people. It was emphasized that when listening, to not compare the events and situations, but to identify with the thinking, the feelings and lack of healthy coping that caused problems. In my case, my addiction. To this day I practice that concept as a maintenance tool. I find that whole idea of self awareness as being necessary in helping me stay humble, stay in touch with hope, faith and other spirituality principles that keep me balanced and focused in the right direction. This book is all about my life and my art. Two major gifts that I was given by God are my recovery and my ability to express myself through my art. These are some things that I have to offer and that I have to leave when I’m gone. My wish is that this book gets in the hands of whoever my message of hope needs to reach to inspire. THIS IS MY STORY... Exhibition on display JUNE 5 - JULY 5, 2009