Happy Camper

I was two years into recovery when my partner and I packed up our car with abstinent food, my food scale, an air mattress, two lanterns, and our very first tent. We hit the open road on an eight-day, crosscountry trip across the southeastern United States. I’d already researched historical sites, museums, and campsites, and I felt profound gratitude for my recovery.

Before recovery, camping would not have been feasible for me, since sleeping on the ground requires getting down there and back up again. Also, when I came into program at my highest weight of 336 pounds (152 kg), I had sleep apnea and needed to travel with a CPAP machine that required electricity. Without it, I stopped breathing many times a night and had to jerk awake to catch my breath again. Now, my sleep apnea has resolved itself with the weight loss. I feel such gratitude for my physical recovery. I can easily bend down and tie my shoes, walk across the large city I live in, and breathe comfortably through the night.

Over my two years of abstinence, I have released over 140 pounds (64 kg) and am working my way to a normal body weight for the first time in my adult life. Physical recovery has come as I follow a food plan, talk to my sponsor regularly, and work the Twelve Steps. In addition to restoring me physically, my time in OA has deepened and strengthened my emotional and spiritual connections—physical, emotional, and spiritual recovery have all been deeply intertwined. The spiritual connection became particularly evident to me on the third night of the trip.

The ride from North Carolina to the South Carolina Sea Islands was especially beautiful—large marshlands unfolded on both sides of the highway as birds called and swooped. That night, as I carefully nestled in our tent in a grove of palm trees, I reflected on how far I had progressed. Before recovery, I did not come into contact with the world much; I was so insulated and anesthetized by large volumes of sugary and fatty foods. My geographic scope had narrowed drastically to a few coffee shops, my apartment, and my job. Now here I was, lying with my partner in a tent surrounded by the spooky shadows of trees, the nighttime hum of cicadas, and the hot and humid air. A little uneasy in the dark, I grinned nonetheless, fully aware that this trip was brought to me by recovery.

“We will be amazed before we are half way through,” says the Big Book (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., p. 83). Indeed! The promises have come true for me, and I am very fortunate to live a life in “the sunlight of the Spirit” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., p. 66) thanks to the recovery offered in OA.

—P.D., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA