Obama saved my family from the brink. I was a single Dad of 3 making that commute just like Joe, leaving at 6am getting home at 7pm to make dinner, cuddle and get then to bed. We struggled to make rent every month, and President Obama and Joe got us out. Thank you 🙏 #Biden2020 pic.twitter.com/a2uzBhRiko
— Chris (@namelessism) February 5, 2020
My life is an open book. I wear my heart on my sleeves and I believe we are "only as sick as our secrets". Under any normal condition I wouldn't hesitate to tell all. "Folks", this isn't normal. So, I'll tell you what I think is important. I grew up poor. I was beat up by gangs and I grew up in a rough neighborhood. I've had to fight, scrape, scratch and claw for everything I have. I pay rent. I don't have a 401k. I know a thing or two about struggle. I'm as everyday as it gets.
I'm a 38 year old Father of 3 children I raised as a single Dad for many years. In some ways, I still do. I celebrate my one-year anniversary to my lovely wife 3/4, and while I may be the rock of our family - she's mine. But she's a full-time student with a full-time job, and like so many everyday Americans, we work to pay the bills and we don't have stocks, 401ks or own a home. Everything I have I bought and paid for in cash. My couch is over 10 years old. It's spotless, and we look like we have nice things - but every single thing was bought in cash on Craigslist or bargained down, well taken care of and earned. This May 1st, I will celebrate 18 years of sobriety as a member of a 12-Step program, saved, by The Grace of God, from alcoholism and addiction. I've been working and making my own way for over 25 years.
I can only speak for myself. I don't speak for Joe - but he does speak up for us. I've had more than my share of hardships, and like the Vice President, I have a passion for learning and making sure I do the right thing - but I trip and stumble on my words, have a terrible short-term memory, and I'm prone to make mistakes. Lots of mistakes. I still do dumb things, step on the toes of other people while caught up in my own self-centered plans, and there are plenty of people to whom I've had to or continue to owe apologies or atonement. I am no saint. What my journey in Sobriety has taught me is that that's very human. Humility is accepting that not only am I not perfect, I'm going to need to constantly grow and learn and work at being better. Rather than taking an, "I know everything", egotistical stance, it's in admitting that I don't know everything, and can only speak to my own experience, that keeps me grounded in honesty and some character. God isn't finished with me yet. There are plenty of ways I need to grow even now, and plenty of ways that, by the Grace of God, I have grown and become a changed person over my 18 years of sobriety. I've been homeless. I've been hopelessly addicted, alone and in the depths of despair. I've lost a lot. But if you ask anyone that knows me well, they'll tell you I make a real effort to humble myself; that I have an atttitude of gratitude and am full of HOPE, empathy, and a genuine and sincere desire to do right by people. Even to my wife, who's my rock, I try to set expectations properly. I tell her, "I will let you down". I don't promise perfection, and I don't promise I'll be anything better than what I am: A recovering alcoholic and addict who's had to work at removing shortcomings and rely on my Higher Power's help to be better, because I'm flawed, finite and very, very human.
I'm giving a voice to everyday Joes like me. Read Jacquelyn's story above, with more to come. It was the honor of my life to volunteer my time to serve and help elect Joe Biden the 46th President of the United States.
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