DaCrizzow

    18 years ago I walked out of jail and started this part of my journey. Since that time there's been lots of side trips, distractions and some all out stalls and breakdowns. The only thing I've managed to hang on to is my sobriety. Or I guess my journey of sobriety. It's an ongoing process and no final destination which throws off a lot of people. When newbies ask me how I "did" it, like there's some magic bullet answer, I have to explain that I didn't "do it." I'm "doing it."     A lot has happened since that morning. I've been "semi"-homeless a couple times, I've been to jail, moved across the country, changed careers/trades, married, divorced, I held my mom as she died, lost jobs, most of my friends and most of my belongings I've accumulated over the years, my kitty of almost 14 years died and the last three years i've rarely had enough cash to make it to my next paycheck. My philosophies on life and...

    It's 1975, Im nine years old and in the third grade. My two previous years of "education" I was being bussed to a more "inner city" school surrounded on three sides by Nashville housing projects. Those were a couple of intense years, all for another day, only to be challenged when I would start buying drugs in those said projects nine years later. Again, that's another story. Now, back to third grade at my new school.     It was only a couple miles from my grandmother's house so I could finally walk to school. This meant two things. "Adventure" and "freedom." It should've also meant "responsibility" but that sounds boring right now writing it, I can only imagine how it would've sounded then.     There were only two other kids walking as far as I was, Larry and Eddie Johnson. Two brothers that lived a couple blocks over but I'd never met them before. Larry was in my class but Eddie was a grade ahead...but th...

    When I was 12 years old, me and two friends, Mike L. and Ryan S. were three kids testing the boundaries. We had started shoplifting and had gotten pretty good at it. We could walk into a department store with an empty shopping bag and leave with it full, no problem. We were getting so much shit that we couldn't take it home without some suspicion so we had to sell a lot of stuff we were stealing. Then we had the problem of explaining the money. Most of the time it just went to pinball or fast food but pretty quickly it went to buying pot. Ryan was the one who started that. He even had more cash, as he got a $40 allowance every week while we might have gotten $5 here and there. Looking back, he was the bigger risk taker. He was the first of us to get a job (construction), quit school and start his own contracting company. He was also the guy who in our late teens would pass us in a car at 100mph while he was riding a wheelie on a motorcycle with a girl on the back.   ...

    Seven days (two travel, one recovery and four "adventure"). 686 miles (636 in the van traveling, 50+ on foot). This was my vacation...part of my vacation. This, along with exploring some caves, a lot of food, reading, and staring at the sky. The "numbers" come out more like, 52+ miles, 13,000(ish) accumulated elevation in about 23 hours total. Covering two summits, another "just below" summit and a run around and through a volcano crater. This was a week of living the new "American dream." Living in a van, down by the river. Even if after three nights of van living and hiking three mountains, the dream got interrupted with a night in a motel. A shower, pizza and some mindless TV can really rejuvenate a guy. That third morning getting out of my sleeping bag, a wave of stink made it's way up from what I assume was my crotch area that I can only describe as cheap, stale peanut butter gone bad. You "choosy" mothers know what...

    I wasn't always a runner. I ran around as a kid and always played sports but I never really just ran for runnings sake. But I thought about it.     I was 14 years old and I was playing my last year of football. I didn't know it was my last year, it just ended up that way. This would be my fifth year playing football but my first year for my school. The other years were in the "jr. pro" league. Until now, I had been one of the bigger guys. not the biggest but i was a lineman. Now I was one of the smaller guys. Not the smallest but after I found out that I had made the team, it didn't take long to realize I was just one of the "tackling dummies" for the bigger guys. When I say "bigger," I could just as easily say older. They were way older. Ineligible, actually. We were in 7th and 8th grade, 12-14 years old. These guys were driving their own cars to school.     This coach would do some ridiculous stuff. like, he would have the starting guys...