08.18.08
A Conundrum
Most of the meetings I go to are pretty loose. We suggest that there be no cross-talk, but it’s usually okay, unless it goes too far. But one thing I hear a lot is “that topic didn’t have anything to do with alcoholism.”
Humbug, says I. As I was reminded just the other day, only the first step mentions alcohol. The other eleven deal with life, with character, with thoughts and actions. As far as I’m concerned, anything that threatens my serenity is a valid topic.
I guess I just need to attend meetings of people who feel more or less the same way. And, perhaps, the people complaining about this could do the same.
08.11.08
Sign of the Times
Here’s a story I heard in a recent meeting.In more or less his words:
While driving through a rural area, I spotted a sign: AA Salvage Auto. Spread over a hillside were row on row of wrecked cars. I wondered if they were all from DWI accidents? Probably not. I know that when I came to AA, I thought I was junk, a wreck.
As I got closer to the sign, I saw the recycling symbol (not unlike our triangle in a circle) and the words “This group recycles.” Fortunately, my group does the same thing. I’ve been recycled and I’ve been salvaged.
08.06.08
They Just Don’t Get It
It’s not their fault, but our friends and family outside of AA just don’t understand what this disease is like for us. Even alcoholics not in AA don’t get some of it, because they haven’t had their thinking validated and challenged through conversations with hundreds of others. Anyway, here’s what brought this up for me.
This past weekend my father-in-law visited us. (Have I mentioned that my adorable spouse is also in AA? Knowing that would help this story. Maybe.) We often go out to Sunday breakfast when he visits, but I told him that this weekend we both planned to go to the Sunday morning meeting, as it was a medallion meeting and adorable spouse just hit a milestone. His response? “Oh.”
Which reminded me that I got a similar response from my siblings when I shared my fourth anniversary with them. They just don’t get it.
And then, at the medallion meeting, I saw how everyone clapped and celebrated each medallion recipient, whether it was for 3 months or 30 years. Why? Because we get it. This stuff is hard, and failure is fatal. So every win, every 24 hours, is a BIG win. I’m so glad I found this community of people who DO get it.
08.04.08
Ain’t It Cool?
A very neat thing happened at a meeting yesterday.
There’s this relatively-new thirty-something guy who clearly goes to more meetings than I do. I mean, every time I go to a meeting, there he is… Anyway, I like him, because he takes himself seriously without being all full of himself.
For the past couple of months, every time he’s shared, he includes “and I’ve been sober for 37 days” or whatever. Very precise. Clearly keeping track as he gets his footing. Well, last night he said “and I’ve been sober for 87 days. Or 86. Something like that.”
Ain’t it cool? No matter how rocky we are, no matter how hard those first few days, weeks, months are, before too long we get to a point where we no longer know EXACTLY how long we’ve been trudging the road to happy destiny. And I think I speak for many of us when I say that before we got to that point, we had trouble believing we’d ever get to that point.
