Al-Anon

Fox called me up today to tell me that her best friend had just broken up with her boyfriend of 7 years. I'm not sure why she called me mid-day to tell me this, but she did. I told her, "Ouch! She has my sympathy and pity."

Then, she said, "And, he's an alcoholic, and said he quit, but when she was doing the spring cleaning found boxes of empty beer cans shoved under the bed."

So, that's why she called me.

I told Fox that her friend needed to get to an Al-Anon meeting, and now. That's one thing that I think really would have helped me a ton with ExOfNote. Really, there's little that can substitute for a support system of people who are in a similar situation as you have found yourself. Unfortunately, the Al-Anon meetings in my area are Monday night, and I had a responsibility as FHE coordinator every Monday night. Had I been thinking more clearly and more about myself I probably would have asked the Bishop to ask someone else to do my job so I could take care of me. Fox argued with me, offering up excuses for her friend. I simply repeated myself, and made my point again, but differently. "Tell her," I said, in conclusion, "that from one who has been there, she needs to do it for her, for her healing, and I wish that I had done it."

"She'll be upset at me for even telling you about it."

Somehow, I don't see how someone who lives clear across the country knowing about your (now) ex-partner's drinking problem is really going to impact her life. Hopefully, however, she heeds my advice and gets the healing I could have used.

It's a sad irony that this came up in my life in the month that ExOfNote's problems really came to a head.