Don't be left home group-less!

I'm wrapping up a business trip more than halfway across the country from home. It's been a very productive and rewarding trip, helping a client solve a problem where the solution actually means something to the client's clients. But, this is the first significant trip I've taken since getting sober and I admit I felt a little trepidation as the trip neared.

Business travel had always been accompanied by booze and there was some fear that the disease would come back to hit me with "you're away from home and no one will know" and "hey, you can find a way to write it off!" Fortunately, I have a brilliant bride and a strong sponsor and both made sure I was prepared not only for the business part of the trip, but for all the other hours as well.

I made sure I knew where the meetings were closest to my hotel and, after checking the schedules, knew that with my Higher Power's protection I would just be able to make an 8 p.m. meeting after arriving at my destination. Even with a layover in Atlanta I got to Denver right on time, there were no hiccups with the luggage or the rental car and the hour drive to where I was going to be went as smoothly as I could hope. And 8 p.m. found me just walking into the door of the club that would be my home away from home for the next almost two weeks.

One of the beautiful things about AA is that when I walk into a group anywhere it's like I've been there all along. There's absolutely no difference in a drunk in my hometown and a drunk in Colorado. What we share goes much deeper than a difference in accent and the fact that this Southern boy was not exactly sure he would survive a Colorado January! I was welcomed into the group I walked into with open arms and, even better, they had never heard some of the ice breakers that are often heard back home. Things like: "Look around you. It's [insert time] on [insert day]. Do you realize how much safer the streets of [insert town] are tonight because we're all here?"

I did try a couple of other meetings while in Colorado, but I kept coming back to the warmth of that first one. And they had some sayings of their own, many aimed at welcoming the newcomer. A couple of my favorites were "Don't be left home group-less" and "if you want to be a member of this group you just have to say you are -- Y'ARR!"

I'll tell you this. As long as welcoming groups exist in places like the Rocky Mountain Serenity Club in Fort Collins, Colorado there will never be a reason for any alcoholic to be home group-less! I'm looking forward to being home tomorrow, but I couldn't let the evening end without saying thanks my friends. You're my home group away from home! Y'ARR!

Until next time.

Building a base

I was reminded tonight that no matter how good our intentions are, if we don't operate from a firm foundation things aren't likely to turn out well.

When I'm analyzing a client's information security architecture or recommending an enhancement or addition to the program there is never a question as to the components that must provide the base of support necessary for the program to be successful. But, when it comes to my alcoholism, there's always that tendency to want to second-guess the program with a "do I really need that?"

The simple answer is, if the AA program "suggests" it, do it.

That was brought home to be by the speaker I heard tonight, who described a harrowing alcoholic journey interrupted by brief periods of sobriety that always ended when she stopped working the program as given to her and put herself and not her Higher Power in the driver's seat. She knew:

"It won't happen this time..."
"I know what it's like out there now..."
"I love him too much to let him go now..."

Well it did happen, she forgot what it was like and that love disappeared when he went back out. She didn't have a base to stand on and she fell. Over and over and over. She lost. Over and over and over. She finally did reach her bottom. Nearly dead, but she reached it. And now, with a little more than a year, she's sharing the message of hope that she has found building a base on which to stand. She's learning the true meaning of the words: "Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path..."

She shared that hope with me tonight and I'm grateful, because it reminds me that I have to take time every day to work on my program and build that base a little stronger.

Until next time...

What a wonderful way...

What a great start to the New Year! All those years where I was already well sloshed by the time the ball dropped are past and I didn't even wake up with bleary eyes, a cotton mouth or needing to throw up! Granted I didn't get up early this morning, but that was because I greeted the New Year with a meeting that started shortly after midnight. If it wasn't the first it was certainly one of the first meetings of the year in NE Florida.

We were a small group, gathered in the back room of a local clubhouse that was throwing its own New Year's Eve bash. We sat up the chairs and the candles for our candlelight meeting as we listened to other members of the fellowship cheer in the year and a few minutes after midnight I was given the privilege of starting the meeting. "My name is ..."

We decided to focus the meeting on the need to find our bottom before coming to AA, not only because we were starting the new year, but because we had a couple of beginners with us -- one of whom picked up his white chip at the end of the meeting. When we closed I think we all felt better. We were sober, not just dry, and feeling a wonderful sense of hope for the new year.

After the meeting I stopped by the clubhouse that hosts my home group and talked for a bit with a few of the men I know from the fellowship before finding my way home. As I crawled into bed, my wonderful, understanding bride of 28 years woke enough to ask me how it went and all I could say was "great." The sense of love and hope that fills me is beyond my wildest expectation and I am so grateful for the many gifts my God has given me.

A Happy and Blessed New Year to all of you!

Until next time...