Literature/Forum Corner

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.

What’s life without its challenges, huh? Earlier this year, Lori F., our delegate, called to tell me that the World Service Organization (WSO) doesn’t want anyone quoting passages from any of the Conference-Approved Literature (CAL) that could be accessed by the public, especially online. We can reference a short segment, but only with permission from the WSO. It all has to do with copyrights.

Yes, Spring is finally here! Flowers are starting to bloom and the air is getting warmer.

What a wise little book! That’s what I first thought when I began reading When I Got Busy, I Got Better (P-78). Sentences and paragraphs began to jump out at me.

The Forum remains the best bargain in Al-Anon. Monthly issues—either digital or in print—cost only $11. But it’s the content of The Forum that makes it so vital. The stories are by Al-Anon members, by us and for us. They are short and inspirational.