Who Do You Trust?

trust

Painting by Oleg Korchagin

 

I had a German boyfriend when I was fresh out of college. I mean really German – straight off the jet with a handful of English in his back pocket and a tendency to treat the roads of Michigan like the Autobahn. I remember riding with him, everyone in the car shouting, “Slow down Ralf! Slow down!” Rolling the “R” and pleading to no avail.

 

He was quite gorgeous, in a huge, too-fast, Arian sort of way and whenever his passengers would beg him to slow down, he’d dazzle with a smile, press the pedal to the metal and say, “Vertrau mir…”

 

Trust me.

 

He was like the snake in The Jungle Book, beautiful and dangerous and nothing at all to be trusted… As a recovering alcoholic, I have learned (perhaps late in life) that you’ve got to find a way to trust someone. I am not talking about the blind trust of your pet dog, or a toddler in a department store. I’m not talking about sitting blithely, while Ralf attempts to commit vehicular homicide.

 

I’m talking about finding a handful of folks who have your back and never second guessing their motives. It’s unnatural to me and scary, but it has been key to my recovery.  I like the second definition of “trust” best: a confident expectation of something; hope. Isn’t that it in a nut shell?

 

Who do you trust?

 

psychedelic the jungle book snake jungle book

Today I’m not drinking because I’ve found some people to trust

How come you’re not drinking?