IF THE ONLY PRAYER YOU SAID IN YOUR LIFE WAS "THANK YOU", THAT WOULD SUFFICE. ~Meister Eckhart

Friday, September 5, 2008

09.05.08

dave birthday
Congratulations, Dave! Five years of sobriety today!
.
Today I am grateful...
  • that Dave insisted on being my friend during my early, shaky days of sobriety
  • that Dave will always be older than I
  • for the consistency of other's sobriety
  • to watch other's celebrate their birthdays
  • for the program of AA that has given us a new life

When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares. ~Henri Nouwen

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HEAD-UP-YER-ASS


12 comments:

Pammie said...

If I continue my excersise class, I may be able to to that!
Hey..remember we sat next to each other last year at Daves 4th birthday celebration at Lambda?

Syd said...

I have been known to have my head inserted someplace other than on my neck.

Lou said...

I was so grateful for the few people that just listened..thanks for reminding me of those special people.

dAAve said...

POP!

Thanks, friend.

Trailboss said...

Hey, is that a picture of Dave's new bathroom? He is looking a bit assy huh?

I am grateful that you BOTH will always be older than me...hehehehehe

Todd HellsKitchen said...

Where did you get that nice b&w photo of Dave?? Obviously taken long before he got sober....

;)

Recovery Road London said...

Lmao at Dave comments. :) He's old...and he knows he is...

*grins*

Spot on re loneliness in drink (post below)

Zanejabbers said...

Those lips on the card you gave Daave looked so FAMILIAR. Shame you did not have an after picture of him to post beside the before picture.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for reminding me to remember the most important person in MY AA life:

Bruce G. was the man who first twelve-stepped me, one month before I arrived at the door of Alcoholics Anonymous, in 1974. I did not remember HIM.

Thirty-four years later, Bruce G., suffering from Alzheimer's Disease, offered to buy me a Big Book, thinking I was a new person in the rooms. He twelve-stepped me a second time--and HE did not know ME.

And now I DO remember Bruce. He and I have known each other for half my life.

Bill said...

Alrighty.

J-Online said...

Hey, that's exactly how I felt yesterday

Anonymous said...

dave! how awesome is that, five years. that is amazing and not easily done, it's a big deal.

this sentence from the quote, "The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares" has been a big focus for me in the past two years.

i'm getting better about not wanting to fix everything for my loved ones, and myself. i'm finding a lot of growth there. it hasn't been easy.