Al-Anon Christmas Party


I went to the Friday night Al-Anon meeting for the first time in a long time. Since my trip back to Japan, I've not been going to a lot of meetings. We had a fairly small group tonight. Probably many people were out of town for Christmas holiday. After the meeting, we all went to one of the core member's house for the group's Christmas party. I didn't know about the party at all, but decided to go along.

I thought it was incredible that this guy opened up his house for the Al-Anon group. Al-Anon by its principal places high value in anonymity, and also you just don't know what sort of circumstances people are coming from to these meetings. So inviting those people into where you live is a very trusting act. The house was gorgeous, and I really enjoyed the company dispite a minor stomachache (I ate too much sushi for dinner. I think I sat them outside for too long or something). You get to see different sides of people when you see them outside of the meeting. It's kind of like seeing people out side of church.

I was really glad that I went tonight. God helped me to reconnect with people, and that makes it much easier for me to get back into the swing of things. I've decided a while ago to stick to the program, at the very least until I finish working all twelve step once. But I was having a hard time reestablishing the habit after being out of it for a while. Actually, I almost didn't go tonight. I was drugging my feet until about 8:30, then finally pulled myself up and went, even though I was going to be late.

I felt that God wanted me to learn more through the program, but I've just been lazy. So I told Him all I'm doing tonight is taking myself to the meeting, and He has to make th rest happen. And He did. I don't want to overtask myself about it, but I want to try doing at least one thing for the program everyday. It can be a reading, step work journal, or going to a meeting. Like they say, I'll work on it one day at a time.