Dinner for 1800

We were seemingly more different than we were similar. One of us was 58, one was 26. One had a PhD, the other had completed high school. One had three kids and a grandson, the other never married. We were in completely different careers: one a scientist, the other a plumber. But we had a couple of things in common. We were both alcoholics and attending AA meetings, and we were about to spend our first Christmas away from our families. We had both been separated from our families against our wishes because of our alcoholism.