Corking the Bottle

Home basketball season opened last night for the University of Louisville women's basketball team. I have been a season ticket holder for several years, just a few rows up in the corner of the KFC Yum! Center. We have made the final four three times, including last year, and played in the national championship twice, getting clobbered both times by Connecticut. Ugh!  I enjoyed the game last night immensely, We beat Miami (Ohio) by 22 points. What made the game so great was that I watched it completely sober. I missed a few games in the past because I was too drunk. One time I went and forgot where I parked the car. During the first round of the NCAA tournament last spring, which we hosted here, I saw us beat Boise State, but I was only half there. I didn't make it to game 2. On the way there, I rear-ended a car and woke up in the  emergency room. I wasn't hurt, but I was completely out of it. I don't remember the accident or the ambulance ride. So, how fun was dri...

I have chronic leg pain. Old age? The 29 marathons and one 50-miler I ran in my days as a running addict? I'm sore these days if I stand or walk for a while. That's Pain with a capital P. Today I want to write about a different kind of pain. A regular at my noon A.A. meeting yesterday vaguely described some psychological pain she is going through, and it's becoming harder and harder to avoid relief in a bottle. I spoke up that the A.A. promises we read at every meeting are real, but they don't promise that a sober life is a painless life: 1. If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. 2. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. 3. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. 4. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. 5. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. 6. That feeling of uselessne...