June 18, 2022

 

One day a young boy asked his father if they could go fishing.

His father said, “No not today, son. I'm very busy.” He wasn't really busy. He was drinking.

The next day the boy asked his father if they could go to the circus because it was in town and he wanted to go since he'd never been to a circus before.

His father said, “No, son. Not today. I'd really love to take you but I'm very busy today.” But, his father wasn't really busy today, either. He was drinking.

The next day the boy asked if they could play catch.

His father was drinking and he was becoming annoyed by these constant interruptions so he took a map that was on the coffee table, ripped the map into dozens of pieces, gave it to the boy and said, “When you get this map back together, then we'll go play catch.”

The boy ran off laughing to himself. Ten minutes later he had returned with the map all taped together and showed it to his father.

His father said, “Hey how did you do that so fast?”

The little boy said it was easy. He turned the page over and there was a silhouette of a man. “When I put the man back together, the world came together.”

All my life I had tried to put the world together in the hope that the man would come together. But, I had it all wrong. The world wasn't broken. The man was. I didn't get sober the day I heard this story. I still had another year of hell to go through. But the story stayed with me and when I finally did get sober, I tried to put the man back together. A funny thing happened. The whole world came together. The people, the places, and the things in this new world are not the ones from the old world.

My son is as old now as I was then. There are no fishing rods for us, no circus tents, no catchers mitts. The cat's in the cradle now. We still talk and sometimes we tell each other how proud we are of what the other has become. Those are the moments that matter.

April 19, 2022

Here it is, 4 days later, and the issue I was having with social media has resolved itself. When I was at the peak of my frustration, I did what I should have done in the beginning. I put the matter in the hands of my higher power whom I choose to call God and a funny thing happened. First, the stress of trying to control an uncontrollable situation eased up. And then, I saw a solution to my dilemma. I merely logged in to my account and I have been using it in moderation and that appears to be working.

April 15, 2022

It's been a long week for me. I'm having issues with a social media platform. I keep getting locked out or having various restrictions placed upon me, I haven't been provided with a suitable reason and I don't seem able to rectify the situation. The only option appears to be leaving the platform. That is what it is. I do have a presence on other platforms and I do have a presence here. I'll have to make a few changes in the way I do things. You might be seeing more of me than before. Because you know me, I have a lot to say.

Making Coffee

I once heard it said that service work (in AA) is anything that makes a twelfth step call possible. So, you might be the person who answered the phone when the new guy called, you might be the person who said hello and shook the newcomer's hand, you might be the guy making coffee at the meeting or the person chairing the meeting. You don't have to be a group officer, you don't have to serve on a committee, or be the treasurer or a secretary, but these are all service positions you can do simply by volunteering to do them.

In my early days, I did the things that didn't require much skill: setting up the chairs or making the coffee or standing at the door, greeting. As time passed and I became more confident, I agreed to do one of the readings. From there, I chose to sit at the chairperson's side, serving as his or her secretary, and eventually as the chairperson which really is just more reading.

In the past 25 years, I've served on various committees, as a representative of my group and even as the leader of the district committee. None of the jobs I have done are any more important than the other. Like an inukshuk, each stone in the structure supports the others.

Currently, I am the general service representative for my group, I chair meetings at my group when asked to, and I will also be a speaker for birthday meetings at my group, when asked to. I find that I don't always have to say yes when I'm asked to do something, but if I have the time to do it, I should agree to do it. 

The way I have always seen it is that if everyone thinks someone else is making the coffee, the coffee won't get made. And then, when a newcomer shows up, who will be there to greet him or show him where to be seated, or where the coffee pot is, etc. It is true that I should never over-extend myself in service work by taking on too many jobs, or by doing one job for too long a period of time.

January 6 - Trust

My word today was Trust. I thought if it had been Expectations, I could have found it more appropriate for today. I have an online group that I started a few years back. I decided to get it back up and running, so I spoke to a few members who used to attend and let them know it was happening. I also spoke to some members from other groups and in the end there were 11 people in the group.

When meeting time started, there were 4 of us in attendance, out of 11 persons. I was not impressed, but only because I had erroneously placed expectations on people I really don't know that well. I suppose my higher power sent the people he knew needed the meeting tonight and if the others need the meeting next week, they'll be there next week.

Maybe the word from my godbox was appropriate.