Sages of the Funny Pages

Every now and then, I come across a cartoon that really speaks to my recovery.

Early in my recovery it was something in the comic strip, "Get Fuzzy." "Get Fuzzy" is about a comic strip writer and his two pets, a not-too-bright dog named Satchel and an malicious cat named Bucky. My husband and I read it because it reminds us of our own pets.

Anyway, for some reason I didn't cut out the strip that day, but I did write out this line and put it in my copy of the Al-Anon daily reader "One Day at a Time."

"I don't feel it's healthy to keep your faults bottled up inside me." --Bucky Kat

I wrote this down because that's, in essence, what I did. I took on things that did not belong to me, and made them mine.

I saw this cartoon in the paper yesterday.

The crab is saying "Ariel!! What did your father tell you about working with humans?"

Ariel answers, "But they really need my help!"

Meanwhile, oil billows out below and the caption reads "The failure of plan ABCDEFGHIJKLM, with all but the last letter crossed out.

I was Ariel, with my hardhat and my wrench and my toolbox naiively rushing out to fix a problem that was beyond my ability to solve.

The caption could have represented all the "fixes" I did that failed to resolve anything.

Ice crystals always developed in my concrete box.

Today's Reminder in ODAT once again tells me "I will apply the wisdom of the First Step (admitted we were powerless over alcohol, that our lives had become unmanageable) not only to my relations with the alcoholic, but to all the people and happenings in my life. I will not attempt to manage or control what is clearly beyond my powers; I will dedicate myself to managing my own life, and only mine."

Today, I still have my toolbox. But I've replaced the tools with those I've acquired in Al-Anon. And the only person I use them on is myself.