longer than the War of the Austrian Succession
February – if ever anyone got it right it was Charley McDowell, legendary columnist for the Richmond Times-Dispatch back in The Day.
Charley wrote a humorous, sardonic column each year in honor of the month and always included this little ditty on how tedious it could be:
“30 days hath September, April, June and November;
All the rest have 31, except February, which is endless.”
Those columns always resonated with me. It does seem endless: “Longer than the War of the Austrian Succession,” McDowell wrote.
But February is something more than just a month for me now. It marks my 35th anniversary of putting the plug in the jug, as I’ve mentioned before.
I have just a couple of more observations to offer this year.
First, I celebrate it because I think it’s unbelievable, given my behavior and attitudes just before the miraculous change in my life that has gotten me this for.
Secondly, because of the encouragement it gives to others to see that people do undergo radical transformations. There are people who will tell you that complete changes in personality and behavior are impossible.
I beg to differ.
And I know thousands of others who agree with me, and whose lives bear witness to that.
So it is important to mark the anniversary that others may see and be encouraged. They do and are. I did and was, all those years ago.
But the most amazing thing is that I did not do it under my own steam. I had outside help.
Oh, yeah, there were lots of cheerleaders and support groups. But I mean beyond that. There was a power greater than anything human involved.
That is where all the credit is due.
No, I’m not gonna go all Holy Roller on you here.
But I do know that a power greater than myself was intimately involved in my transformation all the way.
If you’d like to know more, email or call me, and I’ll be glad to elaborate.
My point this February is simply that all things are possible; and, in fact, “nothing is impossible.” But those things are not up to me.
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Here is a link to a recent column by Tom Silvestri, the senior editorial executive of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, remembering Charley McDowell’s February columns.
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