Hello Everyone, I was a member of MIP for 3 wks . Last week I changed my name because my full name appeared on my post. With the help of jerry F, and David62 I was able to get that corrected. And, thanks again to Jerry,and David for helping. Anyway, that is not what I wanted to talk about today. I went to our  groups 10 year Anniversary Celebration today. We had fellowship, food ,and 2 speakers, one Al-Anon, and one A.A. They both told their stories, and would have you laughing one minute, and crying the next. I could not help but think as I listened how we in Al-Anon sometimes feel, that it is almost us against them. I heard the A.A. speaker talk about all his trials,his ups, and down,and how alcohol almost destroyed his live.He lost his Mother,Father,and Brother(at 29) to the disease. Alcohol caused him to lose a professional baseball future with the Boston Red Sox. He went to college after that, got a Law Degree, but lost his license after 2 years due to what- Alochol. Two Years later he lost his home, cars, his three children, and wife of 15 years.He said a few years later he woke up in a room with no door knobs, laying on a table naked. "That" He said should have been the worst day of his life. But, No he said it was his best, because there was a knock on his door, and a man came in and asked him if he had ever heard of A.A. Long story short, the man became his sponsor. That was 17 years ago. He got his life,wife, children, and home all back. He has been giving back now for 17 years. I know everyones situation is different with their A. My wife is an active A. I know she tries hard, goes to 6 or 8 A.A. meetings each week. But the disease of alcololism destroys everything in it's way. Today I came to realize once again, that I am walking around with a hurt finger, while the ones we are sometimes so hard on are walking around with one leg chopped off. We just have to continue  practicing the Al-Anon principles, and try as hard as we can to walk a mile in their shoes. Now, I know this post has been all serious. So, I will end with a little humor the speaker passed on today about the first time he got drunk, at age 13. He stole a pint of white whiskey(an Alabama favorite) and drank it all late one afternoon. He said he threw-up until he could not throw-up any more, passed out, when he woke up he was two blocks down the street in a vacant lot, and he had pee'd in his pants. He said he got up wiped the throw-up off his face, and said to himself "Boy that was fun, I can't wait to do it again".  Such is the disease of Alcoholism. RLC