No Coincidence

Although I no longer live there, I grew up in Virginia Beach. My parents continued to live there until the mid-80's when they looked at each other one day and said "Why are we still living here???" Their pleasant neighborhood had remained much the same as when they moved there in the mid-50's, but the surrounding farms and little markets had been replaced by four-lane highways and shopping centers. Traffic made errands a chore. There was little sense of community with everyone leading busy lives on the go.

They decided to build a home in the mountains of Virginia, and when one of Dad's former co-workers heard they were moving to Abingdon he said "Our next-door neighbors moved there, and they are wonderful people. You should look them up when you get settled in." Well, we know how those things go.

My parents moved as planned, and one evening a nephew took my folks to a former country schoolhouse outside Abingdon that had been turned into a community center. Various bands were playing bluegrass music, and everyone sat at the old cafeteria tables enjoying the tunes. Strangers sat side by side, like in the famous Amish-cooking restaurants in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

My parents lived the maxim "a stranger is just a friend you ain't met yet," and inevitably struck up a conversation with the nice looking couple across from them. Chatting reached the point where names were exchanged, and when the fellow across from my parents introduced himself and his wife, my dad exclaimed "You're the guy I'm supposed to look up! I used to work with your old neighbor in Virginia Beach!" And so, Eddie and Irene and my folks became fast friends from that point on.

There are no coincidences in life.

My AA home group meets early each morning at a lovely church, and attendance at our meetings has blossomed in the last few months so that our supply of study books doesn't always meet demand. I've started taking my own books like several others do so that there are enough to go around until we can buy more. This week I couldn't find my 12X12, even though I'd searched my home and my car. Oh, well, it was bound to turn up, and it did.

This morning, after our meeting, someone pointed out a sealed brown package that had been left on a window sill. It had my name on it, and when I got home I opened it. There was my 12X12 book! A note was attached:

Bill-
I saw this book outside on a bench by Holy Comforter Church. I think that The Almighty wanted me to read it, so I borrowed it. I would like to attend an open meeting. Please contact me.

The note ended with a name and a phone number. I called and spoke to this man. We had a very nice conversation. He is retired, and he and his wife moved here about a year ago. He is a heavy drinker, and wonders if he is an alcoholic. I had left my book (my name is inside the cover) on the bench on a day when he happened to deliver a notice of an upcoming event at another church to Holy Comforter's office. He left town the day after he found my book for a religious retreat, took the book with him, and read it cover to cover. He returned the book (with money inside the cover), when he returned home from the retreat.

He plans on visiting our group next week. He has never attended an AA meeting. I look forward to shaking his hand.

There are no coincidences.