Beginning Treatment

Last night around 8:00 I took mail to one of our guests who is now in rehab at a nearby nursing center.  On my way home I spotted a guest I haven’t seen for a while at a liquor store on a common gathering corner.  I waved to him but couldn’t stop, so I drove around and came back.  When I parked and walked around the corner, I encountered two of our guests, him and another man who happened to have a small bottle of brandy in his hand.  This one, I’ll call him Fred, told me that he had relapsed and began talking saying that he had a 10 year old son and showed me a photo of him.  He gave me the bottle from which he had only taken a small swig.  We talked more, and he said he wanted to go into treatment.  So, I said, “Shall we start now and dump this?”  He looked hesitant and then agreed, let’s do it.  I took off the cap and poured it out.  He smiled and agreed to come to the kitchen in the morning and go into treatment.  The other man, whom I had spotted first, stood there rather quiet, and then he said he would like to go into treatment too.  So, he also agreed to come to the kitchen in the morning.  Thanks be to God, they both showed up and Br. Ed took them both to treatment today.  May they have great success and find a whole new life ahead of them.  This was a happy ending to a chance visit; let’s pray for a happy continuation of the story. -Br. Bob