The Kenner - The Early Days

Ken H - The Kenner - was my sponsor for about 25 years.  

I really should stop writing and post that sentence.  I can't improve on that fact - it stands on its own merits.

For a great deal of that time - even after I left The Old City - I talked to him on a weekly basis, more often if I had something going on.  At the start I saw him in person at our 12&12 every Friday and I still think that in early sobriety it was important for me to be seen in person.  He listened to two of my four 4th Steps, both times meeting me at his house with a cooler of pop and water, some snacks, and a couple of lawn chairs so we could hop in my car and cruise up to a beautiful park near his house.  I remember both experiences being pleasant and not at all stressful.  Maybe because I was doing some clean-up work on myself instead if the major demolition that is 4th Step, Number One, and maybe it was because he was a kind, dear man and I was comfortable sharing my stuff with him.

Aside:  I did my second 4th Step with my first Old City sponsor sitting next to a lake in a housing development that was still under construction.  When we went in to the model home to use the bathroom after we were done the agent remarked: "So did you guys solve all the world's problems out there?"

If she only knew.

This was a pretty low-key event, too, although this sponsor was a bit of a know-it-all who made a lot of pretty confident suggestions, always irritating to a pretty confident know-it-all who loathes being suggested to.

My first 4th Step was in Chicago and THAT one was akin to being fed through a wood-chipper that was on fire in the middle of a pool of hydrochloric acid.  I'd tell you what it was really like but I don't want to scare the children.

What a minute . . . I thought I was writing about Kenner, not giving a history of my major inventories?  Maybe it all ties in: I asked him to be my sponsor when I was still working with the first guy - the irritating confident know-it-all - who was actually a very good sponsor.  The problem was that he was a night guy and I'm a day guy so I'd call him with a problem during the day and he'd call back when I was already in bed.  I did ask Kenner to be my sponsor before I cut my ties with him.  He was a good man and fine with it, and I'm friends with him to this day.

"Great," he said.  "I like Kenner.  It sounds like a good fit."

Today I'd like to be a big octopus.