Bright Morning Dawns

Rosa and me sat down on the bench behind the bank near the railroad tracks this morning. We had just been to the diner to eat breakfast which was delicious.

"Ferret used to sleep here when he was homeless," I told her pointing to the bench down from us.

"His feet would hang off," Rosa said. "He is so tall."

"I know," I replied. "It must have been uncomfortable."

A train then roared past bringing me great amounts of joy. Great mechanical clamoring faded off into the distance as the end-of-train device went blinking around the corner through downtown.

"I bet you just had a train orgasm," Rosa said, snarkily.

I laughed.

"You know," Rosa then said. "We live terribly boring lives. All we do is loiter around different areas in town."

"I've had enough excitement to last a lifetime," I replied. "Boring is the new cool for me."

Rosa agreed that her life had been a little too exciting at one point as well. It is amazing both of us aren't in jail and are still alive. I try to tell myself that every day when I get to feeling sorry for myself. It could be a lot worse.

Last night, Wanda took me to a small Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in a little town about an hour away. It was held at a Southern Baptist conference center. We had a twelve and twelve study which is a meeting about the twelve steps and twelve traditions of A.A. What stood out most to me was that the meeting was mostly middle aged women. I felt right at home.

"What did you think?" Wanda asked me as we were driving home in her old heap of a car.

"I enjoyed it," I replied. "I thought A.A. was an almost exclusively male club."

"Well, you have always said you are more comfortable around women," Wanda said. "I thought you would like that meeting."

Wanda brought me home and the first thing I did was pack and light my pipe as I turned on the television to what was on PBS. I thought of the many wonderful people that have filled my life since getting sober. I was such a terrible loner when drinking heavily. Despite a terrible start to yesterday, I took it one day at a time, made that phone call, and put another day of sobriety under my belt. For that, I am grateful.