Weekly AA Thread - Feb. 20 - Feb. 26

[retteacher]

At last night's meeting, there were 2 anniversaries: 4 & 5 years. Both recipients are friends from my earliest days in AA. It was so gratifying to see them receive their medallions. I really love the tradition of celebrating anniversaries. It's so encouraging to the newcomer & reinforcing to the rest of us. We all hear so much about relapse that seeing members receive the gift of sobriety for years & years is wonderful.

We read the story in the BB about one of the founding fathers (or as he called himself: floundering father). He was the person who added the words "as we understand him" to the reference to God. He struggled w/the whole idea of spirituality until he gave in & accepted his own form of it.

Take care one & all. Feel free to comment even if AA isn't for you.

Mary

[ThreeDogNight]

Weekly AA Thread - Feb. 20 - Feb. 26

Good morning, Mary and all to come.
Sounds like a great meeting, Mary! It is so wonderful to see all these people with so much sobriety! And yet they humbly tell us that the person who got up earliest in the day has the most sobriety! Truly amazing!
I did an online meeting on Saturday night, and my sponsor was on. I had asked her two weeks ago to be my sponsor, but didn't have her email address and was busy working and didn't call her. Anyway, she explained how to "whisper" during the meeting, and we had a great conversation and were still able to read everything everyone said. I will see her at the women's meeting this afternoon. One woman's sponsor had eight years and went out over the weekend. The sponsee handled it very well, and the sponosr had confessed the slip at an online meeting earlier in the day. Does show how vulnerable we are and how vigilant we have to be at all times.
I am doing the set up and coffee today for the noon meeting, which means setting up the folding tables--my least favorite part, LOL! BB today, and I missed it last week, so am happy I can be there today. Will bring my 24 hours book to read, as I am behind on that.
Will be chacking back later, so hope to see more people here!
Have a great sober day!
TDN

[retteacher]

Weekly AA Thread - Feb. 20 - Feb. 26

The slips are indeed disconcerting. But, confession to the group is part of getting back into the program & recovery. I know for sure that the spector of having to confess to the group has held me back from drinking many a time.

Mary

[AMELIA]

Weekly AA Thread - Feb. 20 - Feb. 26

Hi Mary, Pam and everyone else,

Yes, I find it very unnerving to hear of people going back out after years of sobriety. I am grateful that at the moment I am very sure that I can not even have one drink - I can 'feel' that if I started I would not stop, so there is no point starting! I really do hope that this feeling stays with me & that I don't forget the years I had feeling trapped and desperately wanting to stop drinking.

I went to a lunchtime meeting today - felt a little tired beforehand, but much better afterwards. It is usually the case with meetings. More often than not I find them uplifting and I walk home with lots to think about.

Its been a week since I began sponsoring my first sponsee. We have spoken everyday & I feel like we are starting to get to know each other a bit better.

Wishing you all a sober, happy week.

Amelia

[retteacher]

Weekly AA Thread - Feb. 20 - Feb. 26

I ALWAYS feel better having attended a meeting. Sometimes, especially in the winter, I feel like staying home, but I make myself go, knowing that I'll come out feeling so much better than going in.

I really like sober life. It's so uncomplicated. When I goof up or say something wrong, all I have to do is apologize. I don't feel the need to cover up...something I did when I was drinking lest someone suspect that I was drunk.

Mary

[Doggygirl]

Weekly AA Thread - Feb. 20 - Feb. 26

Hi everyone! Back from vacations and trying to get back in the home groove, catch up on school work, etc. Just wanted to share that Sober Vacations International runs an awesome trip!!! It was a great experience to be at a tropical vacation resort with NO booze on the Club Med property. No temptations, no drunks (like the old me) to contend with. Just pure enjoyment of beach and the resort and all that was there to be enjoyed.

AA has been such a blessing in my life, as are all of you.

DG

[AMELIA]

Weekly AA Thread - Feb. 20 - Feb. 26

Hi DG,
Good to see you back on the boards.
Your vacation sounds fab. I will see if I can find Sober Vacations if I google it.
Sounds too good to be true :-) Sun, sand & sober people!!

AA is a blessing in my life too. Just back from my usual ladies meeting (and a meeting with my sponsee).
Lots of nuggets from the main share who has 25 years sobriety.

Tired now, so over & out.
Wishing you all a happy & sober day/night (wherever you are!)

Amelia

[retteacher]

Weekly AA Thread - Feb. 20 - Feb. 26

So lovely to see you back here DG. Sober vacations sounds wonderful!

I so love the sober life. I enjoy every event so much more. We just got back from dinner w/some program friends. We had a wonderful time...never an uncomfortable moment. We all had to pull ourselves away after well over 2 hours at the dinner table. Why did I feel I needed alcohol in order to feel comfortable enough to converse & have fun?

Take care one & all.

Mary

[AMELIA]

Weekly AA Thread - Feb. 20 - Feb. 26

Mary, I like your last post a lot. I too feel really comfortable in (most) social situations now.
I have put the 'most' in there because some events that are overly boozy can still feel uncomfortable.
But generally I love interacting sober. I can think straight, see the funny side of life & can remember what happened afterwards!

Amelia

[retteacher]

Weekly AA Thread - Feb. 20 - Feb. 26

I was just talking about this w/some program friends. I can be out w/others who are drinking w/very little problem. If it turns highly boozy (this happened only once at a wedding), then I don't enjoy myself. Nobody makes sense. All that matters is the drinking. We ended up leaving that wedding pretty early. Otherwise, I'm OK w/being the only non-drinker in a crowd. That said: I really enjoy socializing w/sober alcoholics. My husband doesn't care about drinking very much, so he's fine w/not drinking. Everyone's brain is completely clear, & we can go from one topic to another w/ease.

Mary

[Doggygirl]

Weekly AA Thread - Feb. 20 - Feb. 26

Amelia, here you go! Sober Vacations International - since 1987 There are other sober traveling groups too that I'm sure you will find by googling. I had no idea until I went to the International and people on the plane were talking about it, and then I found all the vendor booths! For me, just hearing people talk about vacationing with sober people - going on trips together - it just made me think about the aspect of recovery that says one day, we will have FUN again!!!! Real fun - not booze induced illussions of fun.

Between school and AA I am realizing more every day how I used alcohol to cover up or "change" the real me. A teacher said something in my Family Counseling class Tuesday night that really hit home. We were talking about children of alcoholic families. My parents are not alcoholic but our family life was dysfunctional in similar ways. (poor communication, unhealthy parent/child alliances, etc.). He said "these children typically start displaying symptoms of having been raised in an alcoholic home with they are in their mid to late 20's. Difficulties with true intimacy, often very social people on the outside but lonely on the inside" etc. etc. That is how it was (and in some ways still is) for me to a tee. At least I am sober now to try to become more aware and to work on these types of issues. I'm not the social butterfly sober that I always seemed to be when I was drinking.

Anyway...long ramble. It's good to be back and I love reading your posts. Mary, it sounds like you have built a very healthy social life that you and your husband really enjoy through AA. That is fabulous!

Amelia, I am so glad you are sponsoring now. It can be heart breaking but when someone "gets it" and the miracle happens for them, it is SO touching to be a small part of that.

Speaking of....my active sponsee is getting ready to graduate in March from Drug Court. I am so proud of her!! She is really putting her life back together after the typical (and very sad) life on the streets of a heroin/crack addict. She just picked up the keys to her own apartment and will be moving soon. If everything stays on the path it's on, one of her daughters will be moving in with her this summer. Watching a family come back together is just amazing. It's a rocky road for sure. It's not the Brady Bunch. There are so many hurts that have to be overcome. But it can be done. Miracles indeed.

DG

[retteacher]

Weekly AA Thread - Feb. 20 - Feb. 26

In our area, there is so much evidence of crime/mayhem stemming from alcohol/drug abuse. It's disturbing. Thank God for programs like the one you're in DG. I wish there was rehab/help of some kind on every street corner. It's rampant. Just recently:
-Whitney Houston, of course.
-A fatal domestic violence case here in MA...alcohol involved.
-A horrendous dog fatality case here in MA...alcohol involved.

We were just talking w/an AA friend today about this. His whole personality changed when he drank. Anger, unreasonableness, etc. He thanks God he stopped before something really bad happened.

Anyway, I vented.

Mary

[retteacher]

Weekly AA Thread - Feb. 20 - Feb. 26

Last night's 2 speaker meeting was great. The first speaker, a woman, is a walking miracle. It's amazing she's alive. In the 4 years she's been sober she has:
-gotten her first home of her own...she was always homeless.
-gotten her son back.
-gotten her first job.
She wanted help long before she was able to get it. She couldn't afford a treatment program & engineered her own arrest in order to get into treatment. Anyone who wants a treatment program should be able to get into one.

The second speaker, a guy about my age, was sober quite a while. He hit bottom when his body revolted on him. If he drank just one, he got completely wasted. He could no longer tolerate alcohol. That phenomenon along w/some DUI's sent him into treatment.

I just had a conversation w/a friend in program who is sponsoring newcomers. He told me a sponsoring horror story about being codependent w/a sponsee. He gave him money, lots of it, & did other things that the guy should have been doing for himself. I think that's a pitfall some of us can get into...doing too much for our sponsees. Mary

[ThreeDogNight]

Weekly AA Thread - Feb. 20 - Feb. 26

Hello Mary, Amelia, DG and all to come.
I have had a lot of trouble lately with being logged out while trying to send a reply. Had one last night and poof! Anyway, I chaired my first meeting yesterday and it was great! I had finished a meeting last week for the chair when he had to leave early, but this was my first "real" chair. I knew the routine, so wasn't nervous or afraid. It was a topic meeting, and a member chose "All Day In AA." We had some great shares. A guy I'd only seen once before came--he lives about an hour away and came with a friend. He is very ill-said it is terminal and is a heart thing. But he is as upbeat as possible, and he was very inspiring.
Today was the Daily Reflections meeting and we had quite a large group. Just before the meeting a man opened the door and asked if this was AA. He asked to see a member in the hallway. His son had been coming for a while, but I hadn;t seen him in a couple of weeks. Well, he is in the county jail--since last Saturday, I guess. His dad said that it was okay to share with the group. I always feel bad when the young kids go out because I am afraid they won't come back. I am going to send him a card.
He can't have visitors, so I am wondering what happened. I know he had a DUI and couldn't drive.
And a young girl came in with another member and looked miserable, They came in a bit late, as we were finishing the reading, so I went and gave her my book and tried to give her a little smile. I hope she'll be back.
One guy who got his two month coin today has to go to court on Monday. Same charge I had (aggravated), but he had another DUI here just under ten years ago, and this can be considered a second offense. He has a good lawyer, so hope it goes well. He has a wife and kids and is in sales. Boss is willing to pay for a driver for a while, but he could get three years license loss. I will say a prayer for him Sunday night. He is a very nice guy and has come a long way.
Need to call a woman who has been coming since August but as she said today, she just can't seem to get it. She just got her license back this week, and had two positive job interviews, but she is still drinking. She had a black eye today and said she'd fallen. Got married in January to her long time partner, but things aren't going well. I'd love to see her succeed.
Well, I wish you all a great sober weekend! Be back on Monday!
TDN

[Rusty]

Weekly AA Thread - Feb. 20 - Feb. 26

Good Morning Mary, DG, TDN, Amelia and AA Thread Family Members,

Mary, you always make people welcome to post here and I had something particularly timely to share. So thank you in advance for welcoming me. Earlier this week, there was a news story about a Delta flight attendant who showed up so drunk for work that she couldn't remember her name. Inside her carry-on bag, they had found full little bottles of airplane booze. She was immediately sent home, and then the next flight had to be cancelled because they didn't have enough crew. If this had been a couple of years ago, I might have laughed at that (I know, shameful!), but I cannot imagine the humiliation she must feel. I just felt so badly for this woman. This story reminded me of a story Dr. Norman Vincent Peale mentioned in his book, "The Power of Positive Thinking." Dr. Peale is a huge supporter of AA and the Big Book. He retold the story of how, many years ago, a flight attendant he knew was almost fired because she would be on flights and would drink those little bottles of booze. She kept her job because she stopped drinking and started going to AA faithfully. But one day, before boarding her flight, the beast was calling her back, and she was soooo afraid she would end up drinking those little bottles again So she went to the counter agent and he announced, "Would the friends of Bill W please report to Gate A?" Within minutes about 10 people (passengers who were at other gates waiting for their flights) showed up and just gave her so much support. She said if they hadn't....she would have dived into the little bottles and lost her job. I wish that flight attendant from Delta would have called someone instead. I am also disgusted the TV news media chose to make a mockery out of this woman. Thank you for letting me share this with you.

Rusty