The Clothes Dryer Stumble

Circa 1995 AD, four years sober.  They said in meetings; don’t make any big changes when you first get sober. But I was four years down the road so my wife and I bought a new house across town and moved in. Our old washer and dryer made the trip but they were so raggedy that I decided it was time to replace those too.  So I did that at Sears and they delivered a new washer and dryer to our new home and connected them.  Later that day when my wife came home and saw them she said, “Oh you got an electric dryer.” “So,” I said. "But I wanted a gas dryer; don’t you remember we talked about this once? Gas dryers are cheaper to run and they dry your clothes better.”  Right then was the point when I would have flown into a rage during the old days. By old days I mean four years earlier or even four weeks earlier.  But I held back, I had to.

I felt the rage building inside but instead of exploding I said okay; I’ll look into it. I didn’t fly off into a rage this time because of a little change that had occurred inside of me.  I don’t know if it was humility, or faith, or just a desperate desire to be sober that changed in me. But I am so grateful that I didn’t explode. I called Sears the very next morning and explained to them exactly what had happened. To my surprise Sears said, “No problem we can switch it out for you for just the price difference for a gas dryer.” As it  turned out there was only a $50 price difference so I quickly agreed to it.  The very next day Sears swooped in and changed out the electric dryer with a gas one and connected it up at my house.  I couldn’t believe that the solution was so simple.   I would have made the problem into a much bigger one, had I not been sober.  I would have gotten very angry and I would have stubbornly  forced her to keep that electric dryer. She in turn would have been frustrated and very unhappy with the electric dryer.  But yet, miraculously instead my wife was happy with her new gas dryer and I felt at peace. I really do prefer peace in my life, I have always wanted inner peace and this was one of the instances when I actually received it.

I shared this electric dryer story at the very next recovery meeting I attended and everybody had something to say about it. Everyone sharing seemed encouraged to know that this sobriety thing can actually work, against all odds. We all concluded that we must make a conscious effort to choose peace by resisting our natural tendency; to insist on having our own way. This was a turning point for me and a lesson I would do well to remember even today twenty years latter. This is true because I still have that same natural tendency to boil over and spoil everything instead of choosing peace. Hopefully we can all grow in this and enjoy peace in ever increasing measure.