Back from QUEST - Part 1
I'm back from QUEST at Myrtle Beach. Actually, we returned Sunday, but I always take a day off from work to recover from vacation! It was a pretty good trip, though it was entirely too cold for shorts. Bummer. I guess that means we'll have to go back to the beach later this year...
Friday night, in the first meeting (over 90 people!), I shared that this was my third QUEST and I was still scared. At the first one, I was scared to death of the social part - of getting to know anyone, the small talk. By the end, I didn't want it to end. At my second QUEST, it was much the same, though I did know a few people and also knew how things ran. Still I was scared at the beginning and by the end was enjoying it. I thought that, for this go 'round, I'd tell on it first thing. I'm not sure it helped, but I did participate.
Friday night, several of we NC boys went onto the pier for awhile. I took a few pics with my cellphone. They're posted on samiam.com here and here. Saturday morning, I was awake before dawn and watched the sunrise. Here and here are some pics of it. I like sober sunsets and sunrises at the beach.
Saturday morning, as I was waiting for friends to gather to head out for breakfast, I was in the hostility suite (hospitality room - hostility suite is a carryover from my leather run days...). An ad hoc meeting was scheduled for 7:30 a.m. on the beach, but with the cold weather, it had been moved to the hostility suite. There were only two folks and me. I said I would be leaving soon, but would participate until we left for breakfast. In that meeting, I share more about my fear. Basically, I stated that if the whole weekend were a meeting, I'd be just fine. I have very little reservation when it comes to sharing in a meeting. It's the in-between times that get me. At the Friday night ice cream social, I really wanted the effects of a few drinks. I didn't want to drink, but I wanted that social lubricant feeling.
The workshops were OK, though previous years' were better. I attended the 4th & 5th step workshop and the sex workshop. These were actually focused discussion meetings. They were good, but not what I expected based on previous QUEST experiences.
A group of us, comprised mostly of friends already well known but with a couple of new ones, headed out to lunch and then to Atalaya in the Huntington Beach State Park. (We went there last year, too. Go! It's magical.) One of our new friends was an absolutely hilarious tour guide. I wish we had a video - or even just audio - of it! Heading back to the resort, I was pondering how I just wasn't feeling like I was getting that much out of this QUEST. Then it occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, I wasn't supposed to get, but to give. Maybe my reason to be at this QUEST was to be of service to someone else... even if I don't know it.
Friday night, in the first meeting (over 90 people!), I shared that this was my third QUEST and I was still scared. At the first one, I was scared to death of the social part - of getting to know anyone, the small talk. By the end, I didn't want it to end. At my second QUEST, it was much the same, though I did know a few people and also knew how things ran. Still I was scared at the beginning and by the end was enjoying it. I thought that, for this go 'round, I'd tell on it first thing. I'm not sure it helped, but I did participate.
Friday night, several of we NC boys went onto the pier for awhile. I took a few pics with my cellphone. They're posted on samiam.com here and here. Saturday morning, I was awake before dawn and watched the sunrise. Here and here are some pics of it. I like sober sunsets and sunrises at the beach.
Saturday morning, as I was waiting for friends to gather to head out for breakfast, I was in the hostility suite (hospitality room - hostility suite is a carryover from my leather run days...). An ad hoc meeting was scheduled for 7:30 a.m. on the beach, but with the cold weather, it had been moved to the hostility suite. There were only two folks and me. I said I would be leaving soon, but would participate until we left for breakfast. In that meeting, I share more about my fear. Basically, I stated that if the whole weekend were a meeting, I'd be just fine. I have very little reservation when it comes to sharing in a meeting. It's the in-between times that get me. At the Friday night ice cream social, I really wanted the effects of a few drinks. I didn't want to drink, but I wanted that social lubricant feeling.
The workshops were OK, though previous years' were better. I attended the 4th & 5th step workshop and the sex workshop. These were actually focused discussion meetings. They were good, but not what I expected based on previous QUEST experiences.
A group of us, comprised mostly of friends already well known but with a couple of new ones, headed out to lunch and then to Atalaya in the Huntington Beach State Park. (We went there last year, too. Go! It's magical.) One of our new friends was an absolutely hilarious tour guide. I wish we had a video - or even just audio - of it! Heading back to the resort, I was pondering how I just wasn't feeling like I was getting that much out of this QUEST. Then it occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, I wasn't supposed to get, but to give. Maybe my reason to be at this QUEST was to be of service to someone else... even if I don't know it.
