Thursday December 3, 2009

Miss Lily (torti) and Leo de Catrio...
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I have had a most wonderful evening, and am dying to tell you about it. lol

One of the women at our meeting recently moved here from another state. It was one of those moves we have all made, where you haven't much choice than to leave almost everything you own and GO. She was staying with family, and now she has a new apartment and was stoked about that, but had no furnishings. Tonight at our women's meeting we had a little surprise shower for her new place, and the generosity of these women in my life just knocked my socks off. And she was so overwhelmed that she could barely speak, lol. Afterwards, a couple of us followed her to the new digs and helped unload the cars of all the stuff. We filled her pantry with food, gave her dishes and glasses and silverware. We gave her a bed and a couch and a television. We gave her things she really needed and some things, like napkins and napkin rings that our souls just need. She got some candles, some sponges, a gift card, and lordy...you name it. It was wonderful to be a part of and to watch.

I never cease to be amazed (and grateful!) at the generosity and courage of the women I have met in AA. We are really something...and I am so blessed to be a part of it all.


The endless compassion that some people have has been on my mind a lot lately. Over and over again, in my years on this planet, I have seen miraculous things happen as the result of the small acts of kindness that come from the most unlikely sources. The people who have the least are often the most generous. The ones who are suffering from incredible maladies (be they physical or spiritual or emotional) are the ones who are there first, putting out a hand to help someone else. The miracles happen daily. When we can open up to give, we are opened up to receive. When we think of someone else first, we step back into riches we never imagined. Something magical happened tonight in that little room, and I could see it on the faces of everyone present. And I am so thankful today that I get to witness these things firsthand, because I am right in the middle of them.

I am especially grateful and blessed by the program of Alcoholics Anonymous, for changing me in ways I could never have known possible. For opening my heart and my eyes. For giving me the opportunity to be a part of such a group of people. For taking this worthless, useless shell of a human being, and turning her into a woman of substance. A woman who can be generous and can be courageous and can be filled with a love so marvelous that she shines. I feel , sometimes, like I am radiating this stuff that you have all given me. And I will be thankful every day for my life, for my sobriety and for love.

Thank you all for making me the woman I get to be today.


Namaste.