Friday, January 13, 2017

Friday January 13


Blogger has changed so much since I last used it, I can't even figure out how to post photos that are not already on the blog.  So I will recycle for a while.  

It is three weeks today since I retired.  I find my perception of time is strangely altered.  It feels more like 3 months.  It feels like I am failing to do anything "meaningful" in retirement.  Friends remind me that it has not even been long enough for me to recoup from all that working and driving.  I had planned to just "chill out" for at least a month.  

This morning I went to a meeting and heard the story, told for the first time, of a young woman who is sober just over a year.  She is one of those women I have loved since I first met her.  She came in over 3 years ago, but it took her a little while to "get started."  It was so wonderful to be there and watch her as her story unfolded.  

Telling your story for the first time is one of the most wonderful things. 

When I was sober 4 months a friend called and asked me to speak at a huge meeting at a treatment center.  I was horrified!  I told him I didn't HAVE a story.  I told him I had a "series of sleazy incidents," but they were not a story.  Besides, I wasn't sober long enough.  Thank God he argued with me, and pulled out the old "whenever anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help, I want the hand of AA always to be there...". And suggested I was not being responsible.  Well, I had to tell my story then.  

I might have thought I was a lightweight before that night.  But after telling my story, I knew without any doubt whatsoever that I belonged in AA.  And that I needed AA.  And that I wanted to be in AA. It was a magical moment for me.  I think it is for others as well.  

I am honored that I got to see that in someone else this morning.  

"The age of miracles is with still with us.  Our own recovery proves that!"  -- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 153



Monday, January 09, 2017

Still Sober...

It's been two and a half years since I have posted anything.  This blog got to be an awful burden and I am surprised I didn't delete it completely.  I still get nasty comments from things I posted many years ago.  The blog is over 11 years old.  I was looking for something yesterday while preparing to meet with one of my sponsees, and came across my blog and actually found it very useful for information about the steps.   Amazing!  Sort of like my younger self talking to my older self.  I found the younger self very helpful.

I celebrated 32 years of sobriety on July 24, 2016.  I got sober at 32, so I have now been sober half my life.  I was able to retire on December 23, 2016.  

Most of the time I am just dumb-founded at what can happen if you just keep staying sober, one day at a time.  It doesn't have to be perfect, thank God.  

Somehow, by the Grace of God and the program of Alcoholics Anonymous, I was able to stay with the same employer for 21 years and actually earn a pension.  Left to my own devices, I would have told off the first person to irritate me and walked out - but somehow that never happened.  

Now I am a sober 65 year old woman.  I am retired.  I have time to do the things I love.  It is just so wonderful.  

I think I will try writing this blog again.  Most everything about it is broken.  The links are outdated, etc.  I can update that as the urge hits me.  

This blog was a huge part of my life for a number of years.  I met some of the most wonderful people, most of whom are no longer blogging.  I would like to try again.  But I must admit, I have no stomach for the ugly comments this thing generates.  The last comment I got started with "hey dummy!"  Some, of course, are a lot worse.  I will try to let it roll off my back.  

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment.  If you have a blog, let me know so I can come and visit.

Love,
Mary Christine