My pal Val

For some reason today I was reminded of an old friend. Val. Val was a lovely lady, she went to one of the local meetings of AA that I started going to when I was first around. Eventually due to her regular "lift giver" going back out on the booze I ended up being her chauffeur once a week to the meeting. She had been through the same rehab as me some years before and she had a gentle lovely recovery. She went off to the theatre with some friends at any opportunity, went to AA meetings in France occasionally with another couple of retires and generally smiled a lot.

Sadly one week she never called me up for the regular lift. I called her number and got no answer - I assumed she'd gone to visit her sister up north as she did occasionally. Another friend tried to get hold of her a day or so later. Sadly then it was discovered that she had passed away in her little flat.

I was thinking about something and wondered what Val would have said to me about it. She was a great influence on me and a it was my privilege to have known her and gained from her advice. The last line of the serenity prayer is "...and the wisdom to know the difference". You can't acquire wisdom over night can you? Wisdom implies long digestion and many influences and a well weathered eye over many situations and issues. I gained a little of the wisdom I may (or may not) have at times from her.

Wisdom - the quality or state of being wise; knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action; sagacity, discernment, or insight

I stole that from Dictionary.com (hence the US spelling of judgement)