What an AA meeting would look like
if nobody showed up
Dulce, SHADOW, Hope, Secretia, Kim, Pat, Christina, Selchie, BE REAL, Jessie, Ed G, Carol, Sylvia, Chris and Angeles, Adrinna, wrote such great, supportive, intuitive and thoughtful words, that I wanted to shout for them today. Thank you SO much, Peeps--yours are definitely some of my favorite places to visit. (Hope I didn't miss anyone--if so, well...sorrrry!)
This day after Christmas, December 26, is the feast of St Stephen, a Greek Martyr (the first known and listed Martyr of the Christian church. He was stoned to death. My father was born this day, and named...Stephen, which became also my own name,
a.k.a., JUNIOR! (God! I hated that name, Junior.) My sister was called "Sissy"...she hated that one also, but I'm glad nobody ever EVAH called ME "Sissy".
TODAY'S POST however is an observation of some sayings at this morning's AA meeting, as so much of this applied to the way I lived my life:
"I needed and used lots of shoe boxes, bought lots of shoes, until I found that stores would supply me boxes without my purchasing shoes. I would use two, one for July, one for August, for all my unread mail--then two more, for September and October. All my greatest fears lived in shoe boxes; bills for Power, telephone, IRS stuff, mortgage letters, credit card statements, etc., etc. Now my garage is full of empty shoe boxes, and I am sober."
"I used to change my goals to match my actions. Now, I change my behavior to meet my goals."
"I told my sponsor I had feelings of 'pending doom', and asked him what is that? He answered me, It IS Doom! ...That's when I knew it was time to get real, to stop being foolish about life, lives, and love."
Peeps, there was one fellow sitting yesterday in the corner, looked like he was pondering the writings on some papers. When asked if he wanted to "share" (I still hate that SO-liberal word), he did:
"I was just going through my records...my jail time, and my State Prison records and my Federal prison sentence...and thinking how different life is this Christmas!"
Peeps, where in the world do you find someone at an AA meeting on Christmas morning at 7 AM, looking up his "Court Record"...and sober he IS!
Last one for this post, said by a young female school teacher: "I've been drunk and in jail. I've been sober. Sober is better!"
Enough for my thoughts this afternoon. Peeps, let's "do" sober another day--today. And let us find peace in our lives...and let us LOVE one another all over the world.
In such, much Gratitude,
Steve E
