It had been a “so-so” day and then…

…I looked out the window and saw this spectacular sight. I almost forgot where I was as I basked in the glow. My mind knew that it was one of the glorious winter sunsets that we enjoy in our part of the world…but my heart went elsewhere

It brought to mind my dear friend Louie who passed away a few years back. He was a little guy in his mid 70’s and not in very good health but he loved going to AA meetings. We got to be friends and he would laugh about the fact that he had been the “town drunk” when I first moved to this little town in 1978.

I actually remember seeing him sitting on the steps of our Post Office. He would talk up a storm to anyone who gave him the chance. Then I didn’t see him anymore and I remember thinking that he’d probably moved away or become disabled.

Imagine my surprise when I walked into my first AA meeting in my home town in 1989. There sat Louie as sober as a judge but still talking up a storm. He and 4 other men had founded the meeting in 1983 and he had 24 years of sobriety when he died. This became my Home Group and I was the only female there for quite a few years. (Now we have a large group and there are more women than men!!)

But back to the lovely sunset and why it reminded me of Louie. As I said, he loved going to AA meetings and especially to one that was about 40 minutes from our town. It was held on Sunday night and I would pick Louie up at 6 in order to get there on time.

In November and December, unless it was raining, we could always count on a memorable sunset and we got to look forward to them every week. And it never failed that Louie would sigh and say, “The Big Guy in the sky has his paint brush out again”.