Sobering news...

I just learned that the sad-eyed woman in black, who always wore this black fedora and walked with a cane, and sat in the front row of the Friday noon meeting, died. She was 43 years old, and assigned to AA by her surgeon as the price of a new liver. Yet, she didn't have a problem with alcohol, and continued to drink. She bled to death, internal hemorhage. I always try to welcome newcomers, but not overwhelm them with enthusiasm, either. She was always tolerant of my greetings, but you could tell she thought I was crazy. Well, I wave at cows. I could be crazy. But I am alive now, and she is not. I think that is because I was willing to look at myself with the same critical eye I turn on others, and see that there was a lot of room for improvement. Still is, for sure. Poor soul. I am sure that her life was not happy, and it could have gotten so much better, if she could just have opened up, just a little. Another reason to be very, very grateful.