I just returned Tuesday night from the 75th AA International Convention in San Antonio, thus my absence from the blog site. \u00a0It was a wet, very humid event but filled with great talks, lots of encounters with friends, new and old, and for me, 9 hours of greeting friends and signing books at the Hazelden site in “tent city.” \u00a0I was overwhelmed, again and again, by the wonderful conversations with friends and new acquaintances.<\/p>\n
San Antonio is a lovely city. \u00a0The Riverwalk is bordered by great restaurants and every thing was in easy walking distance, once you got to the downtown area. \u00a0But for most of us, food wasn’t the top thing on our minds. \u00a0It was listening to great talks about “what it was like, what happened and what it’s like now,” watching the flag ceremony the first night, listening to the “old-timers” the second night, and grabbing coffees with people you had not even expected to run in to.<\/p>\n
Have I ever mentioned how much I love AA? \u00a0And I would have to say Al-Anon too. \u00a0The journey I was on before that fateful day in late 1974 when I walked into my first Al-Anon meeting was not a pretty sight. \u00a0My own alcoholism had been out of control for many years but it was so much easier to watch the others I journeyed with. \u00a0For sure they were alcoholic too. \u00a0I didn’t know if I’d stick a round when I first came into Al-Anon but I have. \u00a0Being a “double winner,” doing both AA and Al-Anon is like taking a double dose of vitamin C when you have a cold. \u00a0I can’t recommend it enough.<\/p>\n
It’s been my personal belief for years that most of us were “codependent” before we picked up that first drink or drug. \u00a0The behavior of others easily affected how we felt about ourselves. \u00a0For many of us, taking that first \u00a0drink was the direct result of trying to lessen the pain of how we perceived others were feeling about us. \u00a0It’s a deadly cycle one can get sucked into. \u00a0I know. \u00a0That’s where I lived for multiple decades.<\/p>\n
Being free from that “addiction,” has made a huge difference in my life. \u00a0I can see with clarity now. \u00a0 I can make the decisions I need to make for me. \u00a0And I can let others do the same. \u00a0That’s the kind of stories I heard repeatedly over the week end in San Antonio too. \u00a0Our lives have changed. \u00a0And we are in the position of helping others to change their lives too. \u00a0What a glorious reason to be alive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I just returned Tuesday night from the 75th AA International Convention in San Antonio, thus my absence from the blog site. \u00a0It was a wet, very humid event but filled with great talks, lots of encounters with friends, new and old, and for me, 9 hours of greeting friends and signing books at the Hazelden […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[17,22,37],"class_list":["post-690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-karens-musings","tag-aa-international-convention","tag-alcoholics-anonymous","tag-blueprint-for-living"],"yoast_head":"\n