09.29.07

...[O]ur society has concluded that it has but one high mission--to carry the A.A. message to those who don't know there is a way out. ~Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Today I am grateful...

• that I got a call from Boston this morning and could wish her a Happy Second AA Birthday!
• that I get to meet with my sponsor this morning and study the 5th Tradition
• that I will get to see Pammie and daughter L tonight
• that today I have what I need

Last night my nose was starting that stuffiness that preceeds a cold and my throat started getting that sharpness that goes along with all that. Then this morning at 3:30 AM I woke with my mouth as dry as Death Valley. So I was up a while letting all that settle a bit. As I sat here it reminded me of those Saturday mornings I would wake really early after getting smashed the night before. I would then have several cocktails and savor the feeling of being drunk. I would eventually get back in bed to sleep that off only to wake later in the day and do it all over again. Maybe do it all over again two or three times before Sunday rolled around. I would then use that day to detox--watching the clock tick away a second at a time.

Today I do not live that way and have no desire to repeat the past. But I have to do my work and stay vigilant and pray and meditate.

Yesterday I took some stuff to an AA that has recently entered a nursing home after an extended hospital stay. He has moved there for physical rehab. I took him a Big Book and his Daily Reflections. We sat on his bed and chatted. I was able to talk to him with program knowledge and not be intimidated by his 24 years of sobriety. It was I with twenty years his junior that was bringing back to him the message of AA. It totally filled me with gratitude.