Fridays Foolishness

Slumber and dreams...
***********************************************

Home from a meeting that I attend regularly. Tonight was a small meeting, with only about 10 in attendance, but there was about 165 years of sobriety in that room, and 3 of the people there had under 6 months. THAT'S a pretty awesome deal. It was in rooms like this that I learned about living sober in my early days. Where the oldtimers would still "suit up and show up". Sadly, there are a lot of places where that isn't the case, and newly sober people are left on their own, flailing about with no experience , strength and hope that only oldtimers can provide. I try to always remember that when I don't feel like going to a meeting...that I am responsible for a few very important things in Alcoholics Anonymous. One is to be there, present, to show that people like us really can recover and live happy lives. One is to make sure the doors are open, so that when the new person does get here, there's somewhere to be. And one is to be a walking Big Book, and show that these principles that we practice in all our affairs, really do make a difference. Trust God--Clean House--Help Others. Pretty basic stuff, really.

It's been a good day. A little while ago, I went outside calling for my kitty Junko Taibei. When I looked up, I saw a gazillion brilliantly shining stars in the night sky, and was awed by the sight. I had just come home form the city. In the city, you almost never see the stars. I am especially blessed to live out in the country, where the stars are so numerous and hang so heavy it's almost as though you could touch them.

I had an incident with a sponsling last night and have felt a little unsettled by it all day. I have cleaned my side of the street, and after a long talk with my sponsor, feel that the ball is in her court. She is a newbie who has a problem with prescription drugs and alcohol, less than a week sober and clean after her last little episode (A sorry tale of margaritas and 40 Xanex), and was telling a newcomer older lady that she needed to see a psychiatrist. Sigh...I interrupted her and said let's go...once in the car, I said (gently, I thought...but she exploded) You have no business giving anyone advice about anything and especially not about seeing a psychiatrist. She immediately got reactively defensive and started accusing me of stuff (being mean to her mostly) ...and I said--enough. She got out of the car in a huff and told me she didn't need me or anyone else in this F*&%#ng program, that she would do this by herself. She'd show me! And I said "Good Luck" and drove away. Later I called and left 2 messages on her voice mail, she isn't calling me back. So that's that. I will keep her in my prayers.

Tomorrow we will be gone all day nearly, at the Festival of Faiths and Cultures, where the CSA is having an information table that we will sit at for about an hour or two. Then after we tour the Festival we will attend a bbq at some friends...a house warming thingee. Sunday I have to be at 5 AM so I can be ready to leave by 7 to attend an Area Assembly in Vandalia. It's about an hour and a half from my house. I am the Alt. DCM for our District, and the real guy is in Texas. So I get to read the report when they call on my district. I actually like this seamy side of AA, lol, and have been involved in service at this level from my early days. I am considering standing for the Grapevine Committee Chair, as it has been vacated by the guy who has done it the past few years. I don't think there's a whole lot to the job, which is why I think I could manage it. I am (by way of being the Alt.DCM) the Workshop Committee Chair, but that's a matter of putting on a few workshops , no biggie. Thinking about it...haven't committed to it yet. lol

I am blessed to be sober and useful and present. All gifts of sobriety.

God's got a deal for drunks that don't drink.


Namaste.