,,,and rollin’ in my ol’ rockin’ chair.
Your email reminded me of a man in the program, who, after going through some pretty painful stuff, was talking at a meeting one night. This was years ago. I say that, because I’m trying to remember as I write. He was an ex Cleveland Brown. Big man in an all white suit. As I remember, he told the story of going in and out. Finally his wife got an idea; she put little signs all over, with his sponsor’s name and number on them. He would open a kitchen cabinet and there would be the sign. He’d pull down his visor in his car and the number would be there. He said she even had it taped to the back of the toilet bowl. He got the message and he got sober.
But he also told the story of his daughter. He said she was beautiful and a model, who was in many magazines and ads. But she too had the dis! ease and one night, riding on the back of a motorcycle, the driver lost it and they skidded across the highway. She was thrown and skidded on her face and body across the pavement for quite a distance. When she recovered, she was no longer able to earn a living as a model and she was still drinking and bitter at the time of his talk.
He said he and his wife went through an awful lot during all of this. He said the daughter was no longer beautiful in the magazine sense, but she would always be beautiful to them. He attributed everything to this program, which carried him through all of this. And then he said a prayer, which he made up during all of this. It went:
“God grant me the serenity to accept the good things, as well as the seemingly bad things in my life, as necessary for my growth.”
His story and his prayer have stuck with me through all these years.
Brings words and photos together (easily) with