Rule #62.2.4

This weekend was filled with people with mountains of disease.

I don’t care…God has lifted my obsession to eat and I am jubilant.

Bring ‘em on…Batter up!

Rule # 62.2.6

Beethoven’s grandfather, also name Ludwig von Beethoven, was a wine dealer.

His wife, Ludwig’s grandmother, died of alcoholism. Beethoven’s own father, Johan van Beethoven, also died of alcoholism.

So, while there is some debate whether Beethoven was alcoholic, there is absolutely none that he was an Al-anon.

Unrecovered Al-anons must control absolutely everything and are prone to fits of rage when they don’t get what they want. That leaves you with a 2 year old maturity level…and the facility to write the 9th Symphony.

No wonder Beethoven never could get any woman to marry him. Ode to Joy indeed! His wife would have been singing Ode to Misery.

Rule # 62.2.7

God has removed my obsession to eat.

To maintain that freedom I must do my part, which is to be honest about my resentments and ask God to help me remove them.

My resentment: I am mad at Beethoven for dying. The following is from the National Institute of Health which, along with Center for Disease Control and the Mayo Clinic…I trust.

“There is dispute about the cause of Beethoven's death; alcoholic cirrhosis or lead poisoning.” His terminal illness was characterized by jaundice, ankle oedema and abdominal pain. The autopsy data indicate that Beethoven had cirrhosis of the liver.

His lifestyle, for at least the final decade of his life, indicated that he overindulged in alcohol in the form of wine.

Alcohol was by far the most common cause of cirrhosis at that period. Toxicological analysis of his hair showed that the level of lead was elevated.

During the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, lead was added illegally to inexpensive wines to sweeten and refresh them. These findings strongly suggest that liver failure, secondary to alcoholic cirrhosis, was the cause of death.

If the presence of endogenous lead was verified by analysis of Beethoven's skeletal remains, it would suggest that the lead was derived from wine that he drank.

I feel my heart softening and feeling ,if not pity, certainly compassion for Beethoven.

I have been such a jerk…

Thanks God for setting me free.

Amen

Rule # 62.2.8

Run 8 miles working on form. Strength on hills, speed on the flats, endurance when I’m tired but always on form…

It’s a mitzvah to have the folks at PrayerCall to listen to when my heart is about to explode out of my chest like Road Runner cartoon.