Saturday Morning

I just got home from a 6:30 a.m. meeting and then breakfast.  It ended up being only me and my friend Charlie at breakfast.  Charlie has not always been my favorite person, but I have known him for 14 years and he is a good AA member.  We had a lovely breakfast, talking about the things that people who have known each other in AA for a long time can talk about.  At one point, while I was trying to pay off my child support, I went without a car so that I could save that money and be able to pay the child support.  My nephew was graduating from college and I wondered how I could get to Wyoming for his graduation.  Charlie loaned me his brand new Honda for the trip.  It was very very kind of him.  He does things like that on a regular basis.  

Yesterday I went to Grandparents' Day at my granddaughter's school.  The look on her face as I walked into the room was priceless.  I cannot imagine how I could live long enough to ever be worthy of a beautiful young girl loving me that much!  There were only 4 grandmothers (including me) and 1 grandfather in the room.  I felt so bad for the kids without a grandparent there.  It was wonderful.  It is wonderful that my granddaughter only knows me as her nice Nana, not a drunken lunatic.

After the school trip, I stopped by a Starbuck's because I had a minute to kill.  This is NOT normal behavior for me and I wondered why I was doing it as I was pulling into the parking lot.  The woman behind me ordered a grande non-fat, caffeine-free, pumpkin spice latte and I had to turn around to see who would order such a thing.... she looked familiar.  I looked again, and she said "I know you."  I said "Gina?"  And then introduced myself because she still didn't know who I was.  

What a wonderful thing.  She recognized me as my professional persona, and I do appreciate that.  But I recognize her as the lawyer who represented me in my child support case.  I told her I think of her often and appreciate her.  I told her that I realize she practically worked pro bono for me and I will be forever grateful.  Then she remembered!  She had totally forgotten that she did that and didn't even remember what the case was.  She just remembers me for what I do for a living.   I am so thrilled that I ran into her.  

There have been so many people in my life who have helped me so tremendously and unselfishly.  I don't spend a lot of time remembering some of the dark days of my life, but maybe it would do me some good to remember them more often.  

It is amazing what can happen to your life if you stay sober and practice these principles in your affairs... one day at a time.  But it is easy enough to start believing that you have "worked hard" and "earned" the blessings in your life once you have stayed sober for a while.  And it is my personal belief that this is a BIG MISTAKE.

So today I shall strive to be grateful for the life I have and grateful for all that brought me to this point.  All of it.