Meetings

I have been laid up now for just about two weeks after having surgery. Blech!!

Literally I have been allowed to go downstairs twice a day and that's it. I have been keeping myself "connected" with AA through online meetings and talking to fellow AAers. And I thought
I was doing pretty good.

The online meetings work in a pinch as a meeting. The actual meetings that they hold are very similar to irl meetings. Someone shares the experience, strength and hope, then a topic is chosen and others share regarding that topic. So though it filled a need, it is kind of like eating pretzels when what you really wanted was french fries. Same food family, but not what you wanted.

Friends have been awesome calling in and seeing how I am doing. (Grateful nod to Nurse Deb and her daily calls!!!) Visits too have helped so much. Even if the talk is not really recovery AA talk, it is just so good to still have that connection to AA.

Friday night I got to go to my first meeting since April 14. That is a loooong time for me to not hit a meeting. I do still go pretty much every day. I tell you, it felt so good going to that meeting. It really felt like coming home. The hugs and seeing everyone was wonderful, missed my peeps big time. But it was the meeting itself that just made me feel so good. I did not realize how unbalanced I felt until after the meeting and I realized just how much better I felt!! I NEED my meetings. This enforced abstinence from meetings is really showing me just how big a part meetings play in my daily sobriety and mental health. Again, I had been feeling fine, no backslide thoughts or anything even remotely close to it. But I just felt so much BETTER after going to the meeting!!!

Saturday night dad and I hosted our traveling Steady Eddie meeting. Everyone was gracious enough to come over here because of my travel and stair restrictions. And again, I can't even tell you just how good I felt having that meeting. And yes, wonderful to see that group of peeps, some I only see at this meeting once a month, what made me feel good was the meeting itself. There is always good quality sharing at this meeting, and there was one person who had a bit more to share. What a privilege to be a part of that sharing. To be trusted with it, and to be able to respond with absolute love and no judgement. To see that happening around the room like that. So wonderful, such a gift.

Today, just for today at any rate, I understand why meeting makers make it!!