The healing power of humor

Last night I wrote about being so incredibly sleepy all the time. Just as I had posted that BoyGirl called and said she knew i wasn't asleep because she saw that I was online. So we chatted a few minutes, I gathered up Chester and put him in bed, brushed my teeth and peed and got in beside him. I was able to sleep a few hours before Chester got restless, twirling underneath the covers, which in turn made me restless. Then he got stuck inside a pillowcase and I gave up and took him and put him outside for a while, but left the door open so he could wander back inside. I got on the computer and was playing with this. After a few minutes Chester hadn't made it back inside so I went out in the rain in my underwear to fetch him. He was still restless, banging around the apartment, eating and doing some whining as he rubbed himself against the sofa. In the mean time I am surfing and eating half a bag of Cheetos. He finally calmed down and I finally felt like I could sleep and by this time it was 6 a.m.

I get us both back in the bed and can hear the rain and the air conditioner had made the temperature cool and the covers feel just right. Fell asleep almost immediately and was blissfully dreaming about AA (for real, I dream about AA now) until the hugest clap of thunder woke me. The rain was pelting the roof and the lightening was lighting up the room, so I just laid there and enjoyed it all.

All this caused me to sleep later than I had planned and I woke up grouchy. Had some coffee, took a shower, ate half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and took off for Lambda. I don't even think about going to Lambda anymore, it is just part of my day. Meetings are my medicine. If I was sick with something that was treatable with traditional pharmaceuticals I would gladly take whatever medicine that would make me better. Such as things are, Lambda is the best medicine I can take for my alcoholism. It's a medicine I can take surrounded by people I love. Those people are also part of the medicine.

After the frustrating night I had I was pleased that today's topic was humor in recovery. Alcoholics are smart people, and only smart people are funny (it has been my experience that jud people just aren't funny) and the shares today were filled with lots of humor. My mood slowly lifted and was topped off by David S telling about someone with whom he used to drink saying he never had a good time anywhere. David told him that he seemed to be totally enjoying himself when he was cleaning the bar with his hair piece. On that note I laughed out loud.

Aunt Bob shared that once, a while ago, there was a phone call during one particularly festive noon meeting. He took the call and the caller was asking for help but refusing to accept any. So Bob held the phone towards the uproar of the room for a few minutes and then asked the caller if he had any of that in his life. The caller, through tears said that no, he didn't have any of that in his life. He met Bob that night for a meeting and stayed sober.

Humor can heal deep wounds. We alcoholics share our deep wounds and are able to laugh at them, at ourselves and with others. It's kind of like a dog chasing his tail but with better results.