Listening to Walter

I met my friend Walter one Christmas Day when I took my children to a nursing home to do service work. They walked around with me, passing out decks of playing cards, pairs of socks and sugar-free candies. We passed a table where a man in a wheelchair was talking to a friend. I heard him say something about "the Big Book" and "the Steps," so I stopped and asked if he was a friend of Bill W. He was. I introduced myself and he told me he'd been sober for about 25 years. He couldn't get to meetings much anymore because he was in this home, stuck in a wheelchair. It was hard for him to get around, so I offered to bring a meeting to him.