PICKLED and BRINED to last forever !

I guess you could call it “gallows humor” but my friend Karen and I got a big kick out of this sign we saw a few nights ago. It is a self-storage business that looks like all the others until you see it lit up at night ... then the AA jumps out at you ... or at least it does if you are an alcoholic and follow the AA program.

We had great fun imagining how this business could be used to our advantage. Self storage facilities lease space to individuals who store all sorts of items in them. What about old Uncle Joe who never seems to be able to stay sober? We could keep him off the street and out of his car if we stored him in one of these handy lockers along with his usual quart a day. He’d never know the difference and we’d be doing the town a favor.

We could also store our sordid past in an AA self-storage unit and label it “open when needed”. In AA we adhere to the notion that “we neither dwell on our past nor wish to forget it” but we want it to be available when needed. Often times it is the sharing of how we were then and how we are now that helps the newcomer relate and feel like they‘ve “come home“.

And, lastly, I think of the units that are accessed by opening a roll-up metal door, usually about the same size as a one-car garage. What a perfect spot to store that dented old car that reminds us of “the wreckage of our past”. We can visit it on occasion and be glad that those days are gone forever … that is, they will be if we just stay on the golden path known as SOBRIETY.