wow...thankyou catherine, randy, kakki, colin, kate & sharon...your
testimonies to the power of gratitude...it already flavours the list with a
pristine breeze...
particularly kate and colin's report on what gratitude brings to their
lives...i was truly moved by it...
fascinating, colin, about how street friends were solicitous to your welfare;
it made me think of some elder statesmen among A.A...
Ben, in Rosetown Saskatchewan, is such a person...every moment...gritty,
gritty humour and experience, after years and years of boozing, then years and
years of volunteer stories...magic moments in parks or alleys when he made
contact with those still boozin' it...
"how did you quit, ben?" i asked. He was at a cocktail party..."a barmaid
came by in fishnet stockings and a bowtie"...offering ben a drink...he had a
mere club soda in his hand...then he reached out to take a 'real drink' from
her tray...he reports, "My hand just froze in mid-air...i tried to reach
further but it wouldn't move, .....so,... i told her, oh, ...i already have my
drink (the club soda)...i never drank again..."
every moment, humour and A.A. reasoning...we had coffee in a cafe where ben
always kids the waitresses, to their delight...he looked like clint eastwood
in unforgiven...the waitress says to ben "don't argue with me" ...ben, quick
as a whistle, "well, i can't argue without you, so i may as well argue with
you!" as we're leaving...
you said it kate....grace...
shane
