Years ago, I was given a bowl of liquid with instructions. The woman who gave it to me lived across the street from me and I had never met her. We saw one another in passing and I am not even sure if we waved at one another. I thought it a bit strange that this woman who I had not had one conversation with, knocked on my door one day and handed this bowl and piece of paper to me, told me her name and said "Try this". She told me it was my responsibility to do what the instructions said or I would ruin the process. It kind of reminded me of when I would receive those chain letters in the past where if you didn't do what the letter said, something horrible would happen to you. Very confused, I thanked her and closed the door. To be honest, I thought she was a bit of a nut; however, my curiosity caused me to be eager to see what the heck this bowl of liquid was all about. It was a starter for Friendship Bread. I was to add certain ingredients to the bowl, put it in the fridge for a certain time and divide it into three portions. One of those portions I would make into some of the most delicious bread I had ever tasted. The other two containers of liquid, I was to give to two other people with the instructions. I guess it is like a chain letter in a way, with the concept of being never ending as long as you didn't break the chain of giving it to others. As long as the recipient of this gift follows the instructions and passes it on to others so that they can benefit from what we ourselves have received and put into it, everyone wins.

I hope I continue to do better with AA and following that concept than I did with my starter bread. The bread was too darn good! You can add other ingredients to the portion you keep and I made banana bread.  I am ashamed and embarrassed to say that being an introvert, I only tried to give one of the starters to someone else. She flatly turned me down and said she had "tried it and it didnt work for her"--no kidding, and don't those words sound all too familiar in AA? I used all the starter myself and although I don't remember, I think I must have made other starters and kept them all to myself. I know I made nine loaves of banana bread with whatever I had. Unfortunately, I couldn't even pass on the bread to my husband and my daughter, as they didn't like it. So I ended up eating all my banana bread myself. (It wasn't a good year for me as far as keeping the pounds off).

When I thought of the bread this morning, I thought also of Bill W. who was the original starter of AA and how he passed on the message of Alcoholics Anonymous and one by one, the program grew over the years.  As far as anymore Friendship Bread I hope I never see another one of those recipes again. I'd much prefer to stick with AA and as long as I keep passing it on it truly is the recipe for success!

BTY aka Grace