Poem\Story: The Crazy Woman Miracle

The craziest woman,
at the craziest AA meeting,
in the craziest part of the Tenderloin,
in the crazy city of San Francisco,
prayed for me.

Or, at least, she told me she did.
I've never heard her say this to
or about anyone else
in the four weeks she's been
hanging around this particular meeting.
At first she didn't seem capable of
making logical sentences at all.
Just grunts, nods, words, eye-rolling,
door-slamming, and spitting.

Then gradually sentences would appear,
in the middle of a stream of nonsense.
Sentences like:
"He just wouldn't stop hitting me,"
and
"I know what rape is and that was rape,"
and
"The dead woman told me there is no god."

Sentences that rang of Truth, even through her
deeply ingrained inability to express it.
With each passing day she slowly became saner
before my very own eyes.
Began sitting still for entire meetings,
began listening to people,
instead of talking to air.
Began talking less,
but making more sense when she did.

We learned her name was Lorna.
I always tried to be extra nice to her,
simply because she was so crazy.
Most people didn't have the patience for her.
She never acknowledged me particularly,
or even seemed to notice my efforts at all,
until one meeting she pulled me aside,
looked in my eyes
and said seriously and softly:
"You. I thought of you the other day."

I blinked several times in surprise, blurting out,
"Me? When did you think of me?"
Not realizing that she knew I was alive outside of meetings.

"It was praying, actually. I prayed for you."
With that she walked away, her message delivered.
Leaving me with a wonderful warm feeling
radiating from my soul outward through my heart.
That someone in such dire personal need
would still pray for me, a virtual stranger,
is a sentiment truly touching.

That Lorna could retain some information
behind her solid veneer of Insanity is remarkable.
That she is now becoming a functional human being again
thanks to the Universal Intelligence behind
Alcoholics Anonymous,
that is a Miracle.

Thanks, Lorna.
I'll pray for you to.