STAYING SOBER ONE ALKY AT A TIME

TWO GUYS TALKING ONE ON ONE

ONE AT A TIME IS HOW I STAY SOBER

This morning I saw a new--to me--fellow sitting alone, and looking 'alone'. I know the look, the feeling, I had it for so long a time--isolation...maybe that's why today, I feel responsible for stretching out my hand.

I'll call him "Roger". He told me he'd been 'around' Alcoholics Anonymous since 1981, so I translated that to mean he is still looking for "it"! And so, I've got me a new friend, Roger, who's 'been around the block'. Great...and listen to this: Roger just got out of prison after 42 months, and he's been a non-drinker for 30 days! HEY, GUYS...HE'S ONE OF US!!!

My heart beat faster as we talked, and I was SO GLAD that--at this AA meeting--I had left my favorite chair, between my two favorite guys, to go and welcome a beginner. And we stepped outside for a couple
smoker minutes.

I don't know if anything I said registered with him. But I know that something he said registered with me. He said, "Shhhhhh!", and so I "Shushed", and all I could hear was the distant, echoed sound of an airplane engine. He said, "Do you hear that airplane? It has been more than three years since I've heard that sound."

Well, just about everything Roger sees, smells, touches, and hears, is like a new experience for him. I said to myself, Wow! Imagine, someone relishing the drone of plane engines in the quiet of morning.

So we discussed the "new" sounds he's re-experiencing, traffic (he loves it), sirens, (he loves them), motorcycle engines roaring over all other traffic noise (Yep, a favorite sound), children laughing and playing in the park (he loves that), AA meetings with girls at the tables (he LOVES THEM!).

It made me realize, since I've never been locked up over night, a whole other world of incarcerated people live out there somewhere--those who have "really" lost their freedoms, even though through their own behaviors. And I never want to be there, fingerprinted and cuffed, humbled, to listen as jailers throw away the key to my cell..

How much more grateful am I tonight for AA, for the God or Goddess Who brought me here. I'm grateful for all my friends I see every morning in the meetings...and in front of all that, at the front of the line, a special gratefulness I have for and to all my blogger friends. How I miss you all. I hate lurking, commenting a bit, and then running off to take care of business. I need to let you know how I'm doing, and I need to know how YOU are doing. Really, I need to blog, it has become a habit--part of my sober life.

Maybe I cannot blog every day. Y'all understand. I know. That's what friendship is about, even more than love and service. Understanding! That is a"god-like" trait.

I am 'recovering'...and for me, IMO (In My Opinion), that does not mean I am 'recovered'! It does mean that God can--and does--use me to do some of His work, especially with alcoholics. And it is a thrill to be available for that. Amen!

still getting well-a-roni