My sponsor turned 24 last weekend. so i mae him a cake.
we celebrated his sober birthday on retreat at a monastery - a great time and a great place. From friday afternoon to Sunday lunch we packed 5 meetings in. we took it in turns to chair the meeting, 4 of them were run Barnsley style.
I chaired my sponsor and ran the meeting Glasgow Top Table style.........
this involves the chair of the meeting reading the preamble, briefly warning of the 3 fold illness with an explanation and warning of the need and the reasosn not to take the first drink, before handing over to the sharer for his experience strenght and hope. after that the chair goes around the room and invites everyone to speak inturn.
Finally it's hand back to the sharer for their closing remarks and lead out with the serenity prayer.
Must admit I was blown away with JC's closing remarks.........he said that in 24 years, I was the first sponsee he'd had that stayed sober......I didn't know that.
Other stuff that weekend - my buddy Rico came along, he's well into recovery from teh cancer treatment. We went out for a walk - Rico, JC me and one other, it was supposed to be a 2 mile stroll, turned into a 6 or 7 mile ramble.........
One of our men got off on teh wrong foot with three of the women - by the end of the weekend opinions had changed all round....
i took a couple of women down from barnsley - the woman who answered the helpline to me in 06 and her best mate, who by turns, kicked my arse or loved me better - both very influential women in my recovery, I was really pleased to be of service to them, pay back a bit........
I was sitting out at 4am on the saturday and was overcome with a need to talk out my amends to my late dad......I'd just finished and a shooting star streaked across the sky, had a chat with Jackie (another influential lady in my recovery, she died a few years ago) and rosemary (same as Jackie) and when i'd finished saying what I was saying, there were more shooting stars.......Coincidence or sign from my higher power? i'll believe the latter.
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It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you got. BB
Thanks Bill. It always floors me when HP steps in. As much as I enjoy the few signs that have come my way, I really get support from hearing about others and how they manifest themselves. Beautifully written. Tom
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"You're in the right place. That's the door right there. Turn around."
