New York, post.

19Nov08

Back from NYC, home safe and sound and happy.

I had such a good time that I was sort of fearing coming home, thinking I would suffer some post-vacation blues. Instead, I feel very content. I took in a Broadway show and got to visit backstage, had some wonderful girl time, experienced some very inspiring art and thoroughly enjoyed the sights and sounds of that big, vibrant city. And I did all of it sober. Clear-headed. Crisp and sharp and not a bit fuzzy.

I even made it to a Manhattan AA meeting, which was different from the ones at home, and yet the same.

I never made it, however, to AA World Headquarters, I’m sorry to report. That journey to the Mothership will have to wait…

Over the weekend, I also had some really good discussions with my girlfriends about my alcoholism and AA. At first I seriously worried about sounding like some crazed, born-again evangelist, because right now it’s hard not to drone on and on about the program, which has made such a difference in my life already.

I even shared my blog, something I hadn’t intended to do. Well, not just yet. Even though it’s a pretty good way to help explain what this all means to me, I didn’t want to come off as self-absorbed and self-indulgent. (You know, like 99% of the blogosphere.)

Admittedly, that’s pretty much how I viewed AA in the past, when I made my first feeble forays into the program years ago: self-pitying, self-involved, selfish.

It wasn’t until this time around that I realized AA is really a way to be self-reflective. Self-evaluating. Self-helping.

And, as I hope to be someday, selfless.

I can’t help but also hope that maybe someone struggling like I have been will stumble upon these posts, and find some nugget that resonates with her — and that gets her started on her own path to sobriety.

Ha. Here I am, skipping ahead to Step 12, when I haven’t even completed Step 2.

I always was impatient.

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Tags: AA, AA meeting, alcohol, alcoholic, Alcoholics Anonymous, alcoholism, blogging, girlfriends, New York City, NYC, recovery, selflessness, sharing, sober, sobriety, staying sober, Step 12, Step 2, trip, vacation