Hi gang; I'd like to share something important and personal that happened to me about 14 years ago.  It was one of the many great blessings in my life of sobriety.  I'll try to give you the short version.

I was getting ready to leave town to go on a 3 day retreat at a Trappist monastery for a more thorough written 10th Step inventory, so I stopped off at the grocery store to get some road-snacks before I hit the Interstate.  As I was walking through the potato chip aisle, looking for a bag of Doritos, I distinctly heard words inside me saying, "Get the Kleenex."  I wondered where that came from, because I knew I didn't need any Kleenex for my trip.  I sure didn't have the sniffles, so I just ignored it.

Then, I went to look for some peanuts and I heard it again -- plain as day.  "Mike...get the Kleenex."  Picking out a jar of Planters Peanuts, I tried my best to ignore it again.  It just didn't make sense to me, so I put it out of my mind and headed for the candy aisle.

There in front of the Brach's candy display, I heard it again -- only louder this time.  "Mike!  Get the Kleenex!"  I stood there wondering why in the heck I could possibly need Kleenex.  I couldn't figure it out.  I had all my snacks in the cart, and I started to head for the check out counter.  But, I stopped and thought, "Oh well...I give up.  Okay, I'll get Kleenex."

With that, I turned around and walked way over to the paper products aisle and grabbed a cheap box of tissues off the shelf -- still wondering why in the heck I was even doing it.  I tossed them in the back seat and quickly forgot about them and headed out of town.

Two hundred miles later, I pulled into the parking lot at New Melleray Abbey near Dubuque, Iowa.  It's a beautiful, quiet, peaceful place where many people go for personal reflection, prayer, reading, or just to have a relaxing get-away.  It's also not unusual to meet many other A.A. members to chat with, and have an impromptu meeting there.  But, I was not in the mood for talking with anyone on that particular day.  After getting settled into my room, I went back outside to the front courtyard, near the parking lot, and sat down in a lawn chair to relax and think.

Maybe about 15 minutes later, I barely noticed that a car had pulled up and parked nearby.  Even though I was mostly engulfed in my own thoughts about the next 3 days ahead of me, I did notice that a young woman wearing a long flowery dress and high heels had gotten out of that car, and was heading toward a religious shrine located in the middle of the courtyard, about a hundred feet away from me.  That seemed a bit odd to me, because people don't usually come to the Abbey all dressed up in nice clothes like that.  They normally arrive in much less formal attire -- like t-shirts, shorts, and flip-flops.  Oh well, I'd certainly seen stranger things, so I ignored her and returned to my own thoughts.

She got my attention again, though, when I saw her throw herself down hard on her knees in front of the shrine.  Women in long dresses don't usually plop themselves down on the grass without a darned good reason.  Then, a closer look told me that she'd begun to cry.  I don't mean a few little sobs.  No, she was flat out bawling out loud.  I could hear her, and I could see that her whole body was shaking.  This immediately got my attention and I wondered what was wrong.  My own thoughts quickly disappeared as a feeling of sorrow or compassion came into me.  I felt like I wanted to comfort her.  But, since I figured it was none of my business, I stayed in my seat and tried to put the whole thing out of my mind.

That's when I heard it again.  "Mike!  Get the Kleenex!"

Kleenex?  What Kleenex?  Oh yeah....those.  I got up and went over to my car and found the tissues still laying on the backseat, and returned to my chair.  I'd barely sat down again when I saw her turn and look straight at me.  She was still on her knees, but she soon got up to her feet and walked directly toward me.  After she introduced herself, I invited her to sit down in the chair next to me.  She was still crying, with snot and tears and mascara running all over her face, so I handed her the box of tissues.

"Here...I'm pretty sure these must be for you."

That was around 14 years ago.  After that day, I learned to never ignore that Voice inside my spirit again.

Blessings to all, Mike D.