Jenny McCarthy is the new Bill W.
If you had a problem with alcohol in the late 1960s or 1970s you might be quietly approached by someone who said they were "a friend of Bill W." Bill Wilson was the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous and those who had been through his program identified themselves as “a friend of Bill W.”
To be a friend of Bill W. meant you understood certain principles, such as asking forgiveness of the people you’d harmed, and turning your life over to a higher power. One of my good friends became a “friend of Bill W.” before I met him and remains one of the finest people I know. He sometimes talks about how much AA means to him and how he has gone onto sponsor other people to become "a friend of Bill W.” But not a lot. Being "a friend of Bill W.” also means being humble, regardless of the number of people you may have helped.
The other day I joined a gym. I haven’t belonged to a gym for years, but for me it’s the best way to exercise. I know others can be diligent and throw their jogging shoes on and run out the door, but that just isn’t me. I need a gym.
And since it had been more than a decade since I’d lifted a weight I paid for a couple sessions with a trainer. The beefy trainer in his early twenties seemed as if he lived a life light years away from my concerns. In the midst of setting up a work-out routine he asked me about my hobbies, and I mentioned that I wrote for a web-newspaper on autism because I have a daughter with the disorder.
“Do you know Jenny McCarthy?” he quickly asked.






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