Mutual Support
For the past several months, I've been caught up in a difficult situation which has made it necessary for me to call upon every last crumb of information and wisdom I learned through being in Al-Anon for a number of years.
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She and I have kept the e-mail whizzing back and forth. I've read her posts, made comments and offered my opinions. Sometimes those remarks have been strong, even chastizing, and usually followed with, "I know you know all this!"
Just the other day as the situation in my life accelerated to a crisis
level, my friend was right on top of me. "You've been pretty brutal with
me at times," she wrote in one post and I asked, "What is this--payback
time?" and added a
"I know you know this," she wrote, more than once. She was right; I had
the knowledge and wisdom I needed to act in the best way for all concerned.
However, I needed her prodding, to get me to see what was going on, just
as she needed mine.
The obvious occurred to me -- how difficult it can be for us to see what we
need to see when we are emotionally involved in a trying situation.
Enter my support network, and especially my friend with her own big issues
of great import. She and I are typical of how the educated blind help the
educated blind to see.
(Note from Buddy T: Thank you Donna for sharing this story. I guess this is why they say that no one ever really "graduates" from the Al-Anon
Family Groups!)
Who's leading who?
We are effusive in our thanks to each other -- for being there, for
listening, for being a friend, for being supportive, for being direct.
More from Donna
Previous guest columns written by Donna Thompson
for the Alcoholism site.
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