Last night I went to the 45th anniversary of a group that is known as the Lions Club Meeting. That is not really the name of the group, but that is what everyone calls it because it is held at the Lions Club. When I walked in it felt like heaven because I saw so many faces I had not seen for a long time. I got to sit next to the man who took me to my first meeting. It was a podium call-up meeting, and being all old-timers, they all knew how to keep their remarks short to allow more people the opportunity to share. It was awesome. About half-way through the meeting, I turned to my friend, and said "well, I guess we are newcomers here - I hope they'll let us have some cake!" It was a wonderful feeling to feel like I am just a newcomer to the program and fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. I thought of how much our friend in Montana would have enjoyed the meeting. The few remaining old guys from Sho-Gro were there... and mostly they reminisced about the old guys who have passed. Dick S.'s wife shared that Feb. 22 would have been his 50th AA anniversary. I don't think there was a dry eye in the house.
This morning, I went to my regular 6:30 a.m. meeting and saw a woman celebrate 5 years and another celebrate 10. I was grateful to be with young people who are having the same experience that the old folks were talking about last night. What a wonderful thing we keep passing from one drunk to another drunk... it keeps on going, and saving lives, and giving us a feeling of belonging, being loved, and accepted - many of us for the first time in our lives.
I woke up with a migraine this morning, I am going to eat some breakfast now and go back to bed. I hope I dream about the wonderful people in AA.
"There is no more 'aloneness' with that awful ache, so deep in the heart of every alcoholic that nothing, before, could ever reach it. That ache is gone and never need return again. Now there is a sense of belonging, of being wanted and needed and loved. In return for a bottle and a hangover, we have been given the Keys of the Kingdom." -- Alcoholics Anonymous, (3rd ed.) p. 312
9 comments:
All of that makes me feel so young and inexperienced. I haven't felt that way since I became a teenager, 40 years ago.
MC,you are just as wonderful to others in the fellowship as they are to you:)
Hope you feel better soon.
Thanks for sharing.
Nice dreams!
I am so grateful too to be a member of Alcoholics Anonymous! I love you Mary Christine. I hope your head will feel better
thanks that was very cool..
Sweet dreams are made of this...
Thanks for reminding me of that song. I just love that quote.
I really enjoy listening to how your life is surrounded with so much love. You life, it is filled. :)
Bill's Way
And now, the end is near;
And so I face the final Step.
My higher power, Ill say it clear,
I’ve’ done the 5th step,
of which Im certain.
Ive lived a life thats full.
Ive been to every AA meeting;
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.
Regrets, Ive had a few;
But then again, too few to mention.
I did what I had to do
And did all the Steps without exemption.
I planned each 13th Step;
Each careful step along the byway,
But more, much more than this,
I did it my way.
Yes, there were times, Im sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew.
But through it all, when there was doubt,
I read the Good Book.
I shook hands and I stood tall;
And did it my way.
Ive loved, Ive talked crap and cried.
Ive had my cigarettes; my share of acid.
And now, as tears subside,
I find it all so depressing.
To think I did all that;
And may I say - not in a shy way,
No, oh no not me,
I did it my way.
For what is a Stepper, what has he got?
If not emyhysema, then he has naught.
To say the things he doesn’t believe;
And not the words of one who kneels.
The record shows I stayed sober -
And did it my way!
Once More
Once more unto the meeting, dear Steppers, once more;
or close the Group up with our Chairman dead.
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest Steppism and humility:
But when the blast of the “drunkalogues” blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the zombie;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;
Then lend the eye to Chapter 5;
Let it pry through the portage of the head
Like the brass cannon; let the mind be programmed
As fearfully as doth a galled rock
O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,
Swill'd with the wild and wasteful Bill & Bob clones.
Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide
Hold hard the breath and bend up every brain cell
To his full height. On, on, you noble Stepper.
Whose mind is completely gone!
Fathers that, like so many Zombies,
Have in these parts from morn till even fought
And sheathed their Good Books for lack of argument:
Dishonour not your sponsors; now attest
That those whom you called “old-timers” did beget you.
Be copy now to men of grosser blood,
And teach them how to do the Steps. And you, good woman,
Whose brain was altered with Buchmanism, show us here
The mettle of your pasture; let us 13th Step you
That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not;
For there is none of you so mean and base,
That hath not noble lust in your eyes.
I see you stand like Bill & Bob Heads in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:
Follow your Sponsor, and upon this charge
Cry “Keep Coming Back!” It Works If You Work It!
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