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A friend shared her story tonight and it just so happens that today is also the 21st anniversary of her sobriety. I've heard her story once before and was looking forward to hearing her tonight. I'm glad I went. I just sent her an email thanking her for sharing her story again and letting her know some of what she means to me - that I hope I'm a lot like her when I celebrate 21. How cool is it that I can tell someone such a thing? Life is good.

Today I received a phone call from a friend in recovery. He called around 11AM and was just calling 'cause that's what we do. He was on his way into town to go to a noon meeting. Just his call and mentioning going to a meeting prompted me to go, too. I'd had no plans to go, but it worked perfectly in the plans for the day. I told him of the effect of his simple phone call and thanked him for it.

After the meeting last night, I spoke with a sponsee and he asked me if I'd like to join him for the 10AM meeting held in the local recover center on Sunday. Grateful for the invitation, I joyfully said yes. I used to go to this meeting pretty regularly for awhile, not really sure why I slacked off. Anyway, it's a little different from "normal" meetings in that it's AA and NA people from the local community gathering to support people in treatment. Prior to the meeting, Hall "guests" have a preliminary meeting to come up with some questions they'd like the locals to share about.

I really like this particular meeting, for it strongly focuses on recovery. It's far from the whinefests and group therapy sessions that so many discussion meetings devolve into. I like meetings that talk about recovery. Oh, certainly I want people to bring problems affecting their sobriety to meetings. I just want to hear about the solutions to them, not the "misery loves company" schtick feeding the problems.

Meetings like today's recharge me. God help me when I go to a meeting and leave it needing a meeting! The solution is what I try to talk about when I share in a meeting. The solution and then gratitude I have for not having to take a drink. I'm so grateful to have found the willingness so few of us find. I'm grateful that when I found that willingness, there was a suggested program of recovery available.

Someone shared tonight about a time when he was in a fight with his partner and got so irritated and angry that, after MANY years of sobriety, he was going to go drink. On his way to the car, he did what he'd learned to do - he called another alcoholic, his sponsor. He told him what happened and what he was going to do. His sponsor simply said, "Don't." How poignant is it that it boils down to one word? It was enough to get him to stop and talk and get through it. He said he then went back inside and probably made an amends, 'cause he probably started the fight anyway! Ain't that just how we are???

Stop by and say hello to The Sober Alcoholic Soldier. Welcome to the neighborhood, SAS!

A friend was speaking tonight, so I went to hear her tell her story. It's always a good thing for me to learn a bit more about a friend's journey and support them in their sharing it. Glad I went!

I'm making up a grocery list for a weekly meal plan I'm starting and MANY of the sauces and soups call for wine. A quick search online for substituting wine led me here: Alcohol Cooking Substitutions. I don't worry so much about food cooked with wine (provided the cooking process burns off the alcohol), but I do not want wine in my home. So... chicken broth, here I come! BOK! BOK!

Back on quick summations of my takeaways from meetings...

I am not who I was when I came into this program. I am grateful I didn't get the punishment I deserved for the many things I did while drinking. However, I live my life differently today, trying to be of service and to align my thinking and my actions with God. When I successfully do those things, my life is indescribably wonderful. My God wants me to be happy, joyous and free!

I just went through my phone's contacts (online using the backup web service - GRATITUDE!), cleaning out expired entries and doing something I recommend to newcomers - something I had not done - group all "program" contacts together. I did this by preceding each name with a period. It amazed me to see I have over EIGHTY people in my contact list from the program. Even cooler... I've called almost all of them! Particularly when driving, I'll call people, often at random just by blindly flipping through the contacts and then looking for a friend of Bill to call. Now, with them all together, it'll be much simpler.

Calling people is not one of my strongest suites, but I do it more than is comfortable and doing that increases the comfort level. It's something I wouldn't normally do and doing things I wouldn't normally do has been a HUGE part of my recovery.

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I've been away for so long due to life happening. We were buying our new home and the deal went awry. For over three weeks, we were living in hotels, friends' homes and an empty rental house. All of our stuff (seriously... ALL) was in storage at the movers' warehouse about an hour away. We were able to get my PC (for business), prescription meds and the dog crates - that was a huge help. Fortunately, I had a packed suitcase from my Florida business trip, so I had personal items. I did make a couple of trips to Kohl's for clearance casual clothes.

During all the waiting (there was a lot of work, too) for things to work out, I really up'ed my meeting attendance. Noon meetings and evening meetings became the norm. I shared in meetings and talked with people about how I felt. I got new phone numbers and called them. It was the toughest time I've been through in my sobriety. I did not drink. Actually, a newcomer asked me to sponsor him during this. I didn't think much on my situation while working with him. (Thanks, God!)

Finally, the deal was dead. We went for another option. An amazing house we looked at about a year ago was too expensive for us. It had not sold and was put up for lease on the same day that everything went awry. We have leased that home for a year and are taking our dream house for a test drive. (Thanks, God!) We have neighbors who are family times two! They're friends of Dorothy and Bill! (Thanks, God!)

We're pretty much nested now, though there are still many things to do. The house is amazing. The neighborhood is amazing. The location is amazing. (There are meetings about 5 minutes away in almost every direction!)

You know, I never even thought of taking a drink during all of this. There was a time when I would not have even been able to conceive not taking a drink in the midst of something like this. (Thanks, God!)