If you see me around the AA campus it might not be too good an idea to ask me about my recent vacation. I just might tell you and unless you have several hours to listen you may wish that you had never asked. The over used term “awesome” comes to mind.
I am truly blessed to have been not only restored to sanity but to have been restored to the good graces of my family. I got to start the vacation with three days at the home of my mother and father in Connecticut. They are in their early 80’s and are active and involved in their lives. They continue to do volunteer work for gun control, women’s right to choose and urban reading programs. Both are active volunteers at the Unitarian Church in Westport, Connecticut.
I had the opportunity to visit their church and found a place alive with the spirit of love. My mother and father are also alive with love for one another and for their friends and family. They are wonderful examples of a life well lived and offer hope to me for many more years of life and activity.
Leaving Connecticut I spent a whole day driving the back roads of Vermont on a beautiful blue sky, seventy degree day. The flowers and trees were all in bloom. I had not seen a New England spring for ten years and had almost forgotten the beauty.
While driving throughout this trip I listened to “speaker” CD’s that my friend Larry had given me. This is a great way to pass time while driving. I became introduced to two speakers from Texas named Chris and Myers R. They have a passion for AA’s primary purpose and the passion is contagious. They offer a viable prescription for pulling AA back to the basics through love and service, literature based meetings and commitments to institutions. Great stuff!!
I arrived at The Wilson House in East Dorset, Vermont Friday evening to participate in a two day conference hosted by my new friend and Solution contributor Dick B. Dick was sitting on the porch with one of the Wilson House dogs. He has the sparkle in his eyes that I have noticed in some of the most spiritual of my friends and acquaintances in the program.
I was eager to visit Bill and Lois’s graves which I knew to be nearby. On a beautiful early spring evening with the birds singing in the trees I finally got the opportunity to thank Bill for AA and Lois for Al-Anon. Between tears of joy I prayed and thanked Bill for not being selfish with our solution.
The weekend seminar was entitled “Cured or Condemned: The God Factor, The Challenge for This Century”. Dick B. is a thorough re-searcher and Bible student. By tracing the religious and Biblical roots of AA he made a thought provoking case for belief in a cure for alcoholism through God’s power. His Christian message was supported through detailed re-search in AA archives and “Good Book” passages.
I had the opportunity to network and make friends with AA’s from Delaware, the Bronx, upstate New York and Indiana. I attended two AA meetings. The first night I met a friend of mine’s daughte from upstate New York. The second night the women chairing the meeting was from my hometown of Wayland, Massachusetts….no coincidences.
On Sunday I took a leisurely drive through northern Vermont and New Hampshire to a town called Pittsburg, the northern most town in New Hampshire on the Canadian border. Cold 42 degree weather limited the fishing so I spent quiet days alone with God, The Big Book and a pen and paper.
On Thursday the 23 guys started to trickle in for the 20th annual Men’s Spiritual Retreat and occasional fish catching event. I had the privilege of starting this event and dear friends have kept it going for twenty years now. I reconnected with great guys old friends and former “pigeons”. The lunar eclipse from a mountainside cabin overlooking a beautiful lake was almost equalled by our traditional Saturday night dinner and meeting. We ended the night by taking an hour long “moose hunt” drive. We spotted ten moose, six deer and two foxes (of the animal variety).
I have returned refreshed, recharged and jazzed up about the AA program. During my time with my AA friends from twenty years ago I was overwhelmed by the impact this program has had on the lives of others. My friends now have kids in college and children who have never seen their father drunk. Guys who had lived in buses were enjoying the good life homeowners, good jobs and happy marriages. Ex-cons had never been back to court or jails as well as former mental patients who never had to go back to the institutions. The vacation was a gift; my first vacation in many years. A blessing. Just don’t ask me about it if you see me around. You may never get me to shut up. This for those of you who know me is not an uncommon occurrence.