Whats happening now Clean time 9mths, 12 days
H ey everyone. I am in California. It’s late but I went to a meeting out here and I wanted to share what was different than the ones I go to in Chicago.
The one thing that is consistent between the two is that the message of recovery is strong in both. All due respect to my buddies in Chicago, but this meeting was incredible. First, the key-tags… They were direct and no catchy little words about them. “New to the program or coming back?” Some guys got up and then they asked the name of the person and shouted it to everyone. “30 days?” Same thing. Every key-tag given out was exactly the same. They skipped the year and 2 year tag entirely. Then after they went over it, they said that they do the year key-tags differently because they buy a cake with candles (the amount of candles is the amount of clean years). Then they sung Happy Birthday. It actually was kinda nice.
Then they did the readings (and I actually read one) to the approximate 120 people there. After you read one, they all applaud.
Then they read an entire step out of the basic text (one person does it) and then the chair speaks about the step. After that it is open to discuss the step but if someone is not sharing, the chair actually picks someone to speak. Not too voluntary. I think they pick people with some clean time cause it didn’t look to random.
Then at about 10 minutes before close, a couple guys got up to empty ashtrays (oh yes, they smoked and I was THRILLED) and thru out the coffee cups. After they got done, the secretary then went trusted servant by trusted servant, announcing what they did for the meeting and each had a moment of applause.
Finally the very end, the literature chair (yes they had a lit chair at a meeting) of the meeting called all the newcomers back up and handed them a welcome pack. I LIKED THAT A LOT. They guys seemed to really appreciate it.
The meeting closed with ONE PERSON reading the Just for today and then all of us got in a group hug and said the unity prayer. WOW.
So I have to tell you, I got a lot out of the meeting. It was clear that these guys are doing whever it takes to share the message of hope. I needed that meeting but I took out of it something I never want to forget and I hope all addicts who go to meetings here this….
No-one greeted me. No one hugged me. No one even asked my name. The statement the newcomer is the most important person at any meeting now had a VERY special meaning to me. I was the newcomer. All these people I never met. Some looked like the people back home. Some looked a bit tough. The place was in a LARGE hall which was very intimitating. It was only because I had been to so many meetings that I KNEW everyone in the room was family and safe. I sat next to a guy who had 53 days clean and he was a guy who also helped with the cleanup and guess what? At the end of the meeting he said hi to me and asked me how long I was clean.
My message today is that if you go to a meeting, and you are new to this, don’t fear. Everyone at the meeting no matter where, is going to help even if they don’t reach out. This is home away from home and I was very grateful to hear the incredible sharing that I heard.
For those of us with any clean time… PLEASE reach out to people who are new to meetings. If this was my first meeting, I probably would come back because of the welcome packet but it would have been hard if that was not there for me. Fact is, my addiction is coming back. I actually did somethings I am not too proud of out here so far. I NEEDED this meeting. I didn’t use. I’m still clean but I’m an addict and I don not know how to manage myself very well. I also tend, when I am scared, to go looking for trouble in some of the seedest places on earth. I found the place in LA.
For those guys back home…. guys THANK YOU for texting me reminding me that I am loved and cared for and you missed me. That is more than my own blood did. It’s funny, when you are in NA, your home is only as far as the nearest meeting and the your NA family loves you even when you don’t.
P.S. to Tom… got your meeting directory. You didn’t forget me and I will never forget you buddy.
P.S.S. – I got the account. Thank you Higher Power for trusting me with this new account.
