RRP 125 — Check-In with Julie and Peter / Be the Mountain

A Clean Scan, a Parade, and Learning to Stay Grounded

"I was just lost before I really started this journey."

That's Peter, talking about who he was before recovery. We recorded this one in his home studio, the one with the hummingbird at the window and the plants Julie swears make it look like Snow White's cottage. He was tired that morning. The TMS study he's working on at Another Chance has him up at 7 a.m., and he is not a morning person. But he's nine years sober this Sunday, and his one-year cancer scan just came back clean.

"Over these past nine years, I've become found. I'm no longer lost."

We celebrated three promotions and three birthdays at one dinner the night before we recorded. Julie's sending in her expungement paperwork after 32 years, eight charges coming off her record. She found the documents while digging through a file cabinet looking for tax forms.

Ninety days ago, Peter walked into a routine oncology appointment expecting his nurse practitioner and got the doctor instead. His mind went straight to the dark place. Turned out it was just his annual. Three to four years until he's considered in remission. He's also running a TMS study now, transcranial magnetic stimulation, twenty sessions, that could help reduce cravings for opiate and alcohol addiction without medication. It's run by John Morgan, a former RRP guest Julie describes as someone who "has more felonies than me."

Julie brought Peter to her workplace for the first time at the GTD fundraiser in June. She walked him up to the 11th floor and showed him the mountain, the one she prays on every day, the same one on the RRP logo. Her dad was there, Don, her sponsor.

"It was like bringing you to the mountain was huge for me," she told him.

Peter has a whole philosophy built around that mountain.

We talked about how the simpler things matter more now, not the titles, not the money. Julie's A1C is down to 5.2. Peter's doctor was amazed he didn't gain the weight back after cancer treatment. Devlin got his own apartment with his mom. Amanda hit 10 years. Rogue Recovery and 4D Jackson County both turned one. Al is out of hospice and back home. And the podcast itself keeps growing: two new board members coming on, a media intern starting, someone volunteering to write grants. Fred Meyer even sent our first quarterly donation check, for $11.01.

"Progress, not perfection," Julie likes to say. A hummingbird showed up at the window mid-sentence and Peter completely lost his train of thought. Julie laughed. That's what these check-ins are like, a little bit of everything happening at once.

Listen to Episode 125 and read the full show notes at the links below, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Listen: https://mdcr1.com/125 Blog: https://mdcr1.com/125b Newsletter: https://mdcr1.com/newsletter

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