Friends of Bill W.

[LeftWriteFemme]

June 28




Chock Full of Nuts


I am not a coffee maker. I come from a long line of non-coffee drinkers and I don’t drink it myself. I made the coffee for my home group once and was asked not to do it again. This is when I realized my service talents must lay elsewhere, and they do. I am a good sponsor for those who want what I have or at least want to attempt what I am trying to get toward. I am a good representative. I can carry the wishes of my group to the district. I am learning to share my story and carry the message and hope to do it well. So, my question to you is to what service do you most naturally bend?





Save a key from your past


*

PASTRY

Like French pastry--sobriety gets richer with each layer
As I investigate these layers I approach the buttery center
The fat seeps through the years
Making boundaries crisp and intimacy velvety.

Ingredients which ordinarily wouldn’t mix
Somehow blend and counter point one another in a flaky shell
Fruits and nuts improve every bite.

Though there are times which are a bit crumbly
Most of the structure is strong and invention skillful
Pastry and sobriety are compositions of strength and brilliance
Which are meant to be taken internally.

[LeftWriteFemme]

June 29



When I rise up and when I lay down



In order to be happy with you I have to learn to be happy without you. I gasp at the pain of it and desperately wish that the above statement were not true, but alas, you are gone in a way that I can never reclaim you and to hold on to what of you is still tentatively available I must release my frightened grasp. A wisp of smoke is not the bonfire of our past, but it is what remains and I breathe it in as best I can. Immediately I realize I am holding on again. I breathe you out, let you go. I want to run screaming throwing you from my bonds, yet another of my attempts at control. So, now it’s time to pray. Not a prayer to get my way, not a prayer to make you stay, not a prayer to make you gone, just a prayer to live on my own. G-d help me please to live my life, please guide me away from strife. I am lost and can’t find my way, Father, hold me til the light of day.





Putty the cracks in your hopes

*

SHIMMER

The water ruffles over metallic sheen
Lap after lap screen the view
And still the gilt reflection shines in my eyes.

Hypnotic, the undulance pulls me near
I stand on the edge, gaze then gawk
I follow the underwater movement and iridescent tremolo

I forget place and time, I lose sight of the fact
Gold isn’t the only thing that shimmers
Sometimes that glint is just a fish
.
Life is full of fins and fantasy
My sponsor suggests--I stop looking for my life
In a wishing well.

[LeftWriteFemme]

June 30



Halfway Home


Too far to turn back to the origin, not quite close enough to my destination; I am halfway home. I sometimes forget where I have come from, forget too where I’m bound. I gently remind myself I’m making progress no matter what I know. I am not where I started, not where I am going, but I am not without. There is plenty to do and much to look forward to. I lift my feet one at a time, left then right. I try to keep the steps equally spaced, to prevent past curves and circles. Lost is not as bad as it sounds though I do dream of clarity, stone free shoes and a home cooked meal when I arrive.






Appreciate the bridges in your life


*

REGENERATION

When I am grabbed by the extremity of my thinking
I drop my mind like a reptilian tail.
My feet believe they are in no need of my brain in order to run
Independent flight is the action of the day.

Far from the time and place of my dissection
I find regrowth the problem to be solved.
Unlike a salamanders toe
Can I regenerate my wits to their former ability
Or must I live out my existence with a docked psyche?

My desire curls like a python
But dreams of becoming a phoenix.

[PearlsNLace]

Last week marked 8 years sober.

Somedays I feel like an imposter sitting in the rooms. The alcoholic I was seems so far removed from the person I get to be today.

Then, there are other days where I so clearly see the self absorbed entitled escaper of feelings that I still am- and where my drinking gets replace with a thousand different avenues to run (face book, food, here, work, relationship drama, sleep)

i would not have the network of friends and the connections to inner growth that I have now, without AA. And I seriously doubt I would be alive without all that AA continues to facilitate in my life.

but some days I just want to be "recovered". I dont want to be broken. I dont want to translate the lords prayer with a goddess chant that works for me.

Im finding that today I struggle with the word SHOULD. I feel like by now, I should be more balance, more serene, the promises more fulfilled in my life.

And I know, that throughout the last few years, at times I have been.

This year has been amazing. I found my footing again after a divorce of a terribly brief marriage. I became an RN. I chose to take a risk with my heart with an aquaintance,and find new love with new dynamics to grow exponentially. I let 2 AA commitments down due to overworking and then illness, by not asking for help. I did not have a sponsee for longer than one week for the whole year. I gained 40 pounds. I learned how to change a pump on a washer machine, and how to make matzo balls, and how to plant a garden. I also learned that I could live without a car, even in a town with a cruddy bus system. And I learned, finally, to pick up the phone and call people when Im angry, lonely, to NOT eat ice cream when Im hungry, and to allow for sleep when Im tired (instead of overwhelmed)

Thanks. I appreciate having a place to share, amongst family.

[Greyson]

Originally Posted by PearlsNLace

Last week marked 8 years sober.

It has been 8 years already? Happy Anniversary to you my friend. IMO just by some of your comments made in your post, I can see your personal growth, and self awareness it's showing.

This weekend is Living Sober. I will be thinking of you. Again, Congrats!

[Soft*Silver]

there is a new gay AA meeting down the road from me that meets on Tuesdays PM. I am going for this first time tonight! I am really excited! It cuts into my gardening time but there are many things I must nurture in order to gain the harvest...and not all of it is tangible...

[Soft*Silver]

I had a great time at the meeting...great fellowship and alot of good recovery there. I also finally got a sponsor! I have been looking for one and hadnt found her until tonight. She has something good...

[LeftWriteFemme]

Originally Posted by PearlsNLace

Last week marked 8 years sober.

Congratulations!!!!! I so identify with you, all you're going through and all the things you've discovered, too. Live is so much sometimes, but so much better sober. I wish you a million blessings on your head!

hugs,

Sherrie