The material presented
here is not Al-Anon Conference Approved Literature. It is a method
to exchange
information, ideas, feelings, problems and solutions on a personal
level.
I had been to two meetings here in my town and was not able to attend today so I considered going to another mtg about an hr out of town and I DID! I drove very nervously the long drive, trying to find the new place, wondering what it would be like. Once there I found a lovely lady hanging the Al Anon signs up who saw me and greeted me along with another lady. Once I entered the door I saw a very large group of maybe around 30 people. BIG difference compared to my lil town group of 6-8ppl on avg. I felt very uncomfortable at first, the format was a bit different because it was Birthday night, but everyone in that room seemed so close, like a family that I wanted into but didn't know how. Myself and one other newcomer were addressed in the meeting by several people to keep coming back, it works and by the end I still didn't know if I would come back to this large of a group. But as I was putting my chair away 2 nice ladies approached me and asked me a few questions and invited me to the AA mtg next door and I went, yes very nervously. I learned so much at the AA mtg. and by the end I felt warm inside that these two women welcomed me, gave me their numbers to call and said how helpful the program has been to them. And we all laughed through the entire AA member's speech that I think maybe my HP knew I needed a good laugh and a few good new friends. My first two meetings I cried the entire time and this was a total change and I LOVE IT!
So today I am so grateful for my new Al Anon group! I will still frequent my local town mtgs, but I just wanted to say for other new comers, not all the groups have the same feel so keep going till you find a group feel comfy in. You can get different things from different groups and grow from it all. :0)
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Roo
"The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears."
I love to go to different groups as well. I myself have a rather large homegroup that for example there were 90 people this morning for the 8.30 AM Saturday morning meeting. I feel quite lucky that my homegroup has over 21 meetings per week. However, I do like going to other groups as well because each group has something special about it that I enjoy.
I am glad you tried something new. Sounds like you had a great experience.
It is also exciting for me to attend different groups in different area because there are differences and those differences help along with the similarities of course. I enjoy going back to the old groups that raised me when I first got into Al-Anon in CA. Its all love...((((hugs))))
