No Fool … like an Old Fool With age comes wisdom; that has to be the biggest misnomer on the record books. I will tell you about how I came to be an OLD FOOL. A textbook lifestyle is the only way I can describe my life. I grew up in the Midwest with loving parents and two siblings. Both of my siblings went on to become corporate executives with large companies, stock options and healthy retirement plans. However, I digress. I am getting ahead of myself. I graduated from high school with an option to accept a scholarship for football or go to an Ivy League college of my choosing. I chose the Ivy League college, because I always wanted to be in charge of a large corporation to see if I also had what it takes to lead. My college days were no big deal. I drank at frat parties and at rallies. I also drank beer at home with my family when I was on hiatus from school. So, to sum up my young adulthood, I was on the road to success. I met my wife who has passed on now in my last year at school. We had two children, two boys who are doing very well for themselves. They are both married with children. You would think this is a dull soap opera, but when my wife died, I found myself just going through the motions of living. At night, I would cry myself to sleep or drink myself to sleep. I forgot to say that I had retired four years prior to her death. We would go to flea markets, movies and cruises together. Although, once she died – I died. I just didn’t lay down. I started going to the local watering hole where there were a lot of old timers seemingly in the same boat as myself. They would drink and talk about their wives or husbands, about how much they missed the companionship. As time progressed, I started opening and closing the bar. I would sit on that same bar stool day in and day out. I got so drunk one night that I woke up the next morning sleeping in my car in a strange neighborhood. I don’t know if that was the first time I had a blackout, but I can tell you it wasn’t the last. I went to four detoxes and two rehabs. My children asked if I wanted to come live with them, and I refused, because it would curtail my drinking. I awoke one morning with blood on my pajamas and bedsheets. I had developed a bleeding ulcer and a cirrhotic liver. I became an alcoholic in the autumn of my years. My son, unbeknownst to me, sent me some AA literature in the mail with no return address. I read the pamphlet “Is AA for You.” Well, it is. I called the local AA Intergroup Office, and they directed me to the local meeting place. Let me say that I had never been so scared in all my life. They had a greeter at the door who asked if I had been to a meeting before, and I said no. He said welcome, that I was in the right place, and he asked me if I would like for him to sit down next to me. That gentleman is my sponsor today. He is a no nonsense type of guy but also very caring. Our backgrounds could not be more diverse, but we speak the same language which is RECOVERY. He says to me all the time there is NO FOOL LIKE AN OLD FOOL. by Eric A – Orlando