Literature/Forum Corner

It is May 3—the second day of wet snow mixed with rain. Two weeks ago, in 80-plus degrees, my husband and I drove to Pittsburgh with a freshly broken air conditioner. That sweaty ride seems like a dream now.

We Al-Anon members know how working our program can restore us to sanity. Our Conference Approved Literature can play a big part in the process. Today I’d like to talk about how we can use our literature to spread the word to family members suffering from alcoholism.

My sponsor, who chaired the meeting, called Paths to Recovery (B-24), Reaching for Personal Freedom (P-92) and Al-Anon’s Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (B-8) “the core books for the Steps.” They are the Big Three.

Her husband, Bill, co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous. She threw a shoe at Bill and yelled, “Damn your old meetings,” when he asked if she was ready to go to a meeting with him. Then she realized that her own life had become unmanageable, and that she needed help, according to “Al-Anon History” under the Newcomers section of pa-al-anon.org.

It’s January! Yipee! A great time for belt-tightening of all sorts. For instance, I confess to eating so much candy and cookies over the holidays that my tongue put on a coat of something funky—probably in self-protection! So I stopped eating that stuff. My tongue is grateful.

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year!” Or so the song goes. Yes, it can be. Or not.

My husband calls them “God jobs”. They’re those times when the Higher Power is clearly, unquestionably present. I’m talking about those amazing moments that have no other explanation—when the thing that is happening is clearly “meant to be.”

In a recent Forum issue, I read a sentence that stopped my eyes. It talked about Al-Anon as a program of repetition. What hit me was how true that is in my life: I need to work my program every day, or else I suffer the consequences of my default urge to control.

Can you feel it? The calendar page flips to August and a change takes place. The days can still be sticky and hot, but gradually, or sometimes all at once, the evenings shift cooler. Parents, usually moms, are getting children ready for school, or planning that last family vacation before summer ends. My fair-weather feathered friends are booking flights to South America.

It’s the worst of times.
It’s June.
It’s time for graduations, baby showers, weddings, vacations, kids’ and grandkids’ ball games, gardening, Al-Anon conventions, you name it. While all these occasions can be joyous, they also can also be stressful, especially when they come in bunches.