by Mark Saluke | Apr 12, 2026 | Recovery & Sobriety, Upcoming events
Well, I’m 18. Feels weird saying it that way, partly because in six months I’ll be 50, and partly because it’s hard to believe it’s been that long since I started this journey. But it’s really been 18 years since I took off down this winding road of recovery, 18 years...
by Mark Saluke | Jan 31, 2026 | Author’s Journey, Pet Companionship, Recovery & Sobriety, Uncategorized, Upcoming events
Sometime in late 1977, my sister Michelle got a gift, a brand-spankin’ new album, “The Stranger,” by some guy named Billy Joel. Flashforward to about six years later, when some little kid stumbles across this album and becomes enamored with its cover, pretty...
by Mark Saluke | Dec 27, 2025 | New beginnings, Recovery & Sobriety
The first time I met Roger, he walked up to me after a recovery meeting, wearing an eye patch, asking if I could help him stay sober. “I’m not a pirate,” he explained, which I’d already mostly surmised since he didn’t greet me with an “ahoy” or long-drawn out...
by Mark Saluke | Nov 29, 2025 | New beginnings, Pet Companionship, Recovery & Sobriety
“Summer does not fade away in a day.” –365 Tao, p. 215 (Decline), Deng-Ming Dao I did a thing. The timing couldn’t have been better, the circumstances fell right into place, and as of this past Wednesday, it’s official: I’m a first-time homeowner. A nod to new...
by Mark Saluke | Aug 15, 2025 | Pet Companionship, Recovery & Sobriety, Uncategorized
“A tree that fills a man’s embrace grows from a single seedling.” -Tao Te Ching, verse 64, Jonathan Star translation On top of Lucy’s urn, two small acorns sit. They serve as reminders of Chapter One of Lucy’s Way and that underlying theme of small things turning out...
by Mark Saluke | Aug 1, 2025 | Author’s Journey, Pet Companionship, Recovery & Sobriety, The Tao
“The Park isn’t the same as it used to be.” It turns out this first line of Chapter 8, “Practicing Eternity”, in Lucy’s Way is hitting me in new ways these days. When I originally wrote “Practicing Eternity”, it was Chapter 9, and it was a whole lot different, but...
