I went to a meeting last night where the topic was "pray for the stranger." I got to thinking how to me very often the strangers I pray for are my own family. The people closest to me whom alcohol and drugs have twisted around and turned into people I don't know. This past weekend I sat across the table from my father, having a reasonable conversation, when all of a sudden he came out with some nonsense that seemed so out of place. I caught myself thinking, "Who are you?" Suddenly there he was, this stranger that, sober or not, I sometimes just do not know.

My sponsor tells me I will meet a lot of people in my life. All of them will be my teachers, and I won't always like everything they have to teach me. This, I've learned, is true. Some people teach me how I do not want to be, and that's really as important a lesson as all the rest. I can't pick and choose the lessons, but alanon does help me handle whatever it is I need to learn. -Hope