Be Your Own Best Friend

I received the news today that Frank Brennan passed away last night.

Frank was 80-something years old. In his younger days he was a knock-down brawling blackout drunk in the Marina. Those were the days when the Marina was a tough neighborhood filled with teamsters and longshoremen, not a yuppie neighborhood filled with frappuccino-swilling cellphone symbiotes and joggers with boobjobs.

I used to see him around a lot, and he’d always greet people with his line: “be your own best friend.” He always had a pack of young women around him. I never saw him when he wasn’t wearing a tweed three-piece suit and a matching cap.

I hear talk about “old-timers” in A.A. being harsh and cruel, or shouting and strict. Frank showed the lie to this myth with his kind demeanor and his willingness to spend time with a newcomer.

Frank died with 57 years of sobriety.