One of the co-founders of SA in my city Melbourne, Australia, died in May, 2015. John, along with myself and another member started SA here in December 1992. Our first meeting was us three with a White Book in a public park.

John used to say “God loves a trier.” And John was indeed a trier. He struggled with sobriety in all his 12-Step programs. In the final six months of his life he made it back to meetings after a long absence. Until his death he was still trying to practice recovery. His body was found with his daily meditation books and Recovery Bible open — along with alcohol, another of his addictions. Sometimes it seemed like he was trying my patience; instead he was teaching me a lesson of patience and understanding. As I learn to be more patient and understanding of myself, I learn to be more patient and understanding of John.

John would also say, “You’ve got to have a laugh.” In 1995 I was at John’s house when he was cooking about 10 liters of soup for the first SA conference in our area. He put too much salt in. He then tried to mask it with lemon juice and that didn’t work, so out it went into the compost! We all had a good laugh and then started preparing a new batch of soup. Laughter is a regular part of recovery for me: I take the addiction seriously, and I learn not to take myself too seriously.

I’m not sure I’d be alive today if John wasn’t there in some of my early SA meetings. It wasn’t anything profound he said. He just suited up and showed up. He helped a new fellowship in town get off the ground. The history of recovery programs has many like John: those who never seemed to fully get it, even though they were doing the best they knew how. John gave what he could. John, thanks for sharing the journey with me. Rest in Peace, Brother!

[Ed.: Received in June 2015 and overlooked until now.]