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.
Well I'm back from my short vacation, but I had a rather interesting experience. My uncle who is also in AA took me to an AA meeting... I won't say where, but... shall we say, the location of this meeting was in the equivalent of an alligator-filled swamp of alcoholism and addiction. Last week I was posting about feeling strange as an AA in an Alanon meeting; this meeting was so "out there" I felt almost like an Alanon eavesdropping on the As! LOL.... but underneath it all, I could still feel that God was present in the room. As scary as this place might seem to me, I could sense that everyone else there was just as scared... scared that as soon as they left the room, they'd walk right back into the jaws of their disease. Hope among the hopeless. And I had to remember... and heard it said again... the program isn't for people who need it, it's for people who want it. It's there for the asking.
Even though I didn't say a word during the meeting (what could I say?) I kind of feel a news sense of being recharged in my program. I tend to go to the same meetings, see the same people - I do what's comfortable. Doing something uncomfortable may be hard but it opens the eyes wide and gets my attention.
I started attending AA meeting from the beginning. It was a longtime before I would make it to an Alanon meeting. There just weren't any close to home. I am not an alcoholic. I remember the first AA meeting I walked in. I was told there was an Alanon meeting there. Once I got there I was told there hadn't been one in many years. They still invited me to stay. They told me I could share if I wanted to or not. We were all there because our lives had been affected by alcohol. No matter which program I attended....it was the same steps between the two.
We now have an Alanon meeting close by. Once a week. I still attend two of the AA here twice a week. It was there that I developed compassion for the alcoholic I never had. I am not all together certain I would have gotten that in the Alanon program for me. Through all the meetings I have ever gone to....I have never felt more welcome than I have in AA. What one meeting doesn't do for me the other does. I have many AA's tell me the same as well.
We have many alcoholics that attend Alanon as well. Often you will find they have a loved one who suffers from the disease as well. My best advice I ever had gotten was not to be afraid to share.
I have to agree - open AA meetings are a very eye opening experience for me. My favorite ones to attend are the "Birthday" celebrations. It is amazing to hear some of the things these people have been willing to do & go through to keep their sobriety and relationship with their HP as their main focus.
Thanks for this great post,
Rita
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No matter what me and my God are going to be ok, even better than OK -
I love going to birthday meetings. I love watching the ones that work it some in and get sober and watch them change before me. I have to admit, in the very beginning.....some one with one day, two weeks, or thirty days of sobriety would just tug at my heart. Are they going to make it? Why do they all get so excited about such a critical short amount of time.
The answer came to me one night just a few months ago. When i first started attending meetings, I watch one come in drunk. I watched him get sober. I hadn't ever seen anyone more grateful and seem to work as hard as he did. After one of the meetings....he has brought up to me that when he got his thirty days it meant the world to him. He has never been sober that long since he was a young child. The most he had ever gone was a couple of days. He now has much more than 30 days.
Now, when I hear of anyone having any kind of sobriety my heart is beaming for them. They may have never have been sober that long.
Now, when I hear of anyone having any kind of sobriety my heart is beaming for them. They may have never have been sober that long.
There is an old AA anecdote, probably based on a true story somewhere. A newcomer comes to a meeting and sits down. The guy to his left announces he has 30 days sobriety. The guy to his right announces he has 30 years of sobriety. The newcomer turns to the guy with 30 days and asks, "How did you do it?"
This is not to say the guy with 30 years has nothing to offer the newcomer. But the newcomer likely can't see that far. It's incomprehensible. 30 days OTOH, is within the horizon and something he can relate to. But don't think the newbie doesn't notice the 30 year guy. The 30-day guy is a handhold; the 30 year guy says this is worth doing, there is hope, there is life after alcohol.
And both the 30 day guy and the 30 year guy are likely to have the same answer... One Day At A Time.
