Did he or didn�t he??
2005-04-29, 11:24 a.m.

Day 250 Did he or didn�t he??

My hairdresser doesn�t know. So I�ll answer that myself later.

What a great run I had this morning. Started later than usual. I normally take Fridays off, but wanted to go this morning because I skipped Wednesday to get blood drawn. Hard getting going, but I�m glad I did. Felt really good running, and set a new best time for 2 miles, along with a new best sustained calorie burn rate. Actually, I seem to be setting new best times at pretty regular intervals, so maybe I�m only finding out what my body is really capable of. Or � I was in such bad shape before, it�s easy to make improvements. Either way, I�ll take it. Strength is almost back to pre-vacation levels. Another week and I�ll be breaking new ground there too.

Speaking of new ground � I was able to locate the Clarkson Community Church after work last night. That�s where they hold a 5:30pm Al-Anon meeting. Not much trouble finding the place, but it was a little farther out than I thought. Consequently I showed up about 10 minutes late. Getting out of the van and walking in the door probably the worst part. Then locating the meeting in the church. It�s a pretty big building, and even the back office area is pretty large. Finally located the right room. Found myself wishing I had worn sneakers instead of my noisy, heel clacking Bostonians. Would have made snooping around the church a little quicker. Folks didn�t seem to mind my tardiness much at all. Got there about halfway through the business part of the meeting. Happy to report this group seems to be in pretty good fiscal shape, and has also been in existence for almost 20 years. That�s reassuring.

I didn�t really get a whole lot out of this initial contact, and I didn�t expect to. I got my feet wet, met some really nice folks, and picked up about a dozen different pamphlets. They also have books of daily readings (3 different ones!) offered for sale. I don�t know if all groups run their meetings the same, but after the business was finished, the president(?) went through a little welcoming schpiel to the 3 of us that were new to their group. After that, one of the members did a reading, I think it was probably a favorite daily passage from one of the 3 diary style books, then sort of did an analysis of the reading and how it helped her understand something about herself or others better.

Following the reading, another member shared some observations about life � his own and/or people he knows � and in that, shared some general coping strategies that he and others had developed or found. Never once did he mention how he had been affected by an alcoholic � he only shared strategies for coping with stress. Hmmmmm � thought provoking. He also made some (insert adjective here) observations about how some people suck at accepting a compliment. Hmmmmm � thought provoking again. (I find myself guilty at times of just what he observed. And he was absolutely right.)

After the formal part of the meeting, things kind of broke up into smaller groups while the meeting hall was returned to it�s original condition. During that time, no fewer than 4 different people introduced themselves directly to me and welcomed me to the group. Every one was laid back, espousing the lack of pressure for anyone to actually DO anything. It�s all �when you�re ready� or �when you feel up to it� or �you did the hard part, you�re here�. Every single one of them said they hoped I came back. All in all, not a bad experience. I�ll be doing a lot of reading of the pamphlets they gave me, plus the couple I picked out myself later on. They also encouraged we newbies to attend 6 or 8 meetings all sort of packed in together with several different groups in an effort to find a group dynamic that resonates well with your own self. Wish I could. I�m also the kind of person that can at least be comfortable accepting SOME things for what they are and just going with it. This group may be in that category. The people are nice, the distance is a little rugged, but the timing is excellent. I�ll be back there next week. Maybe I can formulate some questions after digesting some of the literature I have.

250 days down. One first step taken.

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