Thursday 9/2/10 - "BUSY ME"

"BUSY ME"

It's 9:15 pm and I am tired. There was no afternoon siesta or opportunity to just rest. My day began with a phone call from a sponsee early after which I took the dog for a walk before it got too hot. He adores his walks and I have come to enjoy them too. They are good exercise, good meditation and prayer time and great companionship with puppy.

Next came a series of cleaning tasks around the house. I vacuumed carpets and the back porch as well as dry mopped several areas of the house. I swept the front walkway and driveway. I tried to get the outdoor tasks done also before it got too hot.

I had conversations with about seven sponsees during the day. I went to a noon AA women's meeting and afterward asked a lady who has been sober well over 30 years for her phone number asking if I could call her later. I did call her and it was good to have a conversation with another long time sober woman.

I also made two trips to the library, first to check out some DVDs and then realized I had a book due. I went back home to get it and returned to the library.

When I got home it was time to get ready to go back out to dinner with two long time girlfriends. We used to go out to eat weekly when our children were young and growing up and for years after, but recently we have been going out only a couple times a month. But despite all the years and changes, we still enjoy each others company.

Upon returning home, puppy and I took another walk and now I'm crashing.

I should sleep really well tonight. Good-night all.

Prayer Girl

Photo credit: Busy by wiglenog@deviantart.com

Thursday 1/7/10 - "MY PRECIOUS GIRLFRIENDS"

"MY PRECIOUS GIRLFRIENDS"

Today was a day for girlfriends. There were five of us. Four from my generation and my daughter. We had a twelfth night potluck party. We five women have been getting together over dinners for 25 years. The three other women my age were the first women I met and came to know when I moved here 25 years ago. My daughter grew up with their children.

Today, daughter and I spent the better part of the day preparing our part of the meal. Daughter had made an incredible butternut squash soup for Thanksgiving two years ago. She made it again. The recipe said it was of "intermediate" difficulty and would take about an hour and a half. Maybe "intermediate" was the correct designation, but it sure took longer than that. She did most of the work and I was cook's assistant. It turned out absolutely delicious and was a total hit.

My contribution was a peanut butter pie. I have never made one and never order it, but it also turned out delicious. At the last minute I bought some Reese's peanut butter cups that I cut up into smaller pieces to decorate the top. It was a huge hit too.

One of the women brought lasagna, another brought salad and garlic bread, and the third made roasted vegetables with beets, sweet potatoes, and onion. Everything was fabulous.

But the most wonderful part of the entire evening was the conversation, caring, love, and friendship that filled the house. My Christmas decorations stayed up till the end of this party. The bayberry and pine/balsam candles were lit for hours before they arrived and the house was full of these smells as well as the aroma of butternut squash soup.

Now it is time to pack things up for another year. The holiday is truly over.

I hope everybody had as blessed a day as I had.

Prayer Girl

P.S. I am meeting my sponsor for breakfast tomorrow morning. I can't wait.

"It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about." -Dale Carnegie

Tuesday 12/8/09 - "ANGELS AROUND ME"

"ANGELS AROUND ME"

Tonight daughter and I went with three of my oldest friends from Naples and the daughter of one of them to a birthday dinner to celebrate the 59th birthday of one of them. Lord, where have the years gone? These friends have been by my side for 25+ years. Our children were babies when we met. Our children grew up together as I and my friends grew older together.

We have celebrated birthdays and holidays year after year. We have celebrated our children's birthdays at places like McDonald's, the roller skating rink, the bowling alley, theme parks, our homes, picnics in the park, in all kinds of places.

We used to meet once a week for dinner at places we could afford such as McDonald's, Burger King, Ponderosa, pizza joints, Chinese restaurants. Our favorites were places that offered playgrounds for our kids to play in while we talked and talked. 25 years later our girls are in their late 20s and we are all eating in a restaurant without a playground. We are all talking "grown up" talk.

I love these women and their adult children. I love the time we spend together. Though we have seen each others character flaws over the years we have mutually agreed (unspoken) that our relationship is worth the effort to cultivate and is cherished.

My friends are like angels to me. God bless them.

Prayer Girl

Monday 10/12/09 - "FRIENDS"

First things first -
Thank you dear Dulce
for this "One Lovely Blog Award"
I appreciate it so very much.

And now for my blog:

"FRIENDS"

My life is full of friends - all types of friends. Friends add fullness to life.

My sponsors have been some of my dearest friends. They have been friends that I trusted and confided in. The bond between sponsor and sponsee is a unique one created by God for the special purpose of carrying God's message of sobriety from one alcoholic to another or from one member of Al-Anon to another.

My sponsees are also God-given friends just like my sponsors, but in the reverse role. I feel the spirit of God in the center of these relationships. There is tremendous love.

I have three special friends that I have known for over 25 years. They are not alcoholic, not in any twelve step program. They became my friends when I first moved to the town I live in. They watched my decline into alcoholism, watched me become a stick figure because I drank more than I ate. They were there as I struggled to get sober and when I returned from treatment. They never deserted me. They are my friends today. We nurture our friendships.

Family can be friends too. I enjoy spending time and having fun with my daughter, my son, and his wife - my husband too, of course.

I have another whole new world of friends now. I have met many bloggers who comment and become followers on my blog. I have even met a few face-to-face. What a thrill that was. I learn from you. My blogger relationships have grown in importance over the year since I began blogging.

Friendships take work. They require attention, respect, patience, love, and persistence. There has to be a lot of give and take including making amends at times and accepting amends at other times. They are worth the effort.

Good-night to all my friends.

Prayer Girl

Sunday 9/6/09 - "RANDOM THOUGHTS-AN INVITATION"

Beauty in the Grand Floridian!

"RANDOM THOUGHTS-
AN INVITATION"

INVITATION:

I am inviting you blogger friends to join me tomorrow night at TSR (The Second Road). I will be hosting (no - hostessing) the Sunday weekly chat. A. Miles will be our most outstanding moderator as usual and I will be the hostess. We will chat from 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm. If you have never before joined a chat on TSR, come sign up. It's easy. If I could do it, anyone can. :)

Thank God for women's meetings - for the Saturday noon women's AA meeting. It is one of the safest places for the women who attend. Today there was sharing from the gut - women in a lot of pain - a few experiencing the anniversary of the death of a spouse or child. But there was also a lot of sharing of solutions found in our beloved Alcoholics Anonymous program. There was a lot of hope. I am so glad I was there.

I am grateful for the time I spent with two of my very best friends (not alcoholics). We have known each other for 25+ years. They watched me descend into my alcoholism and find recovery. They never judged me or deserted me. They stood by me at all times. They stand by me now. We forgive each other our shortcomings. What greater love can there be? We went to dinner tonight and then found an ice cream store where we licked peanut butter yogurt cones together like we have done so many times through the years. God is good to have given me such wonderful friends.

Strange times - it's just a little bit like rehearsal for being a widow. (Sorry, but that just happens to be how it feels in some ways.) Can't say I like that too much. In the last two weeks (since hubby left), I've taken to watching movies. I rented "Knowing" with Nicolas Cage and really liked it.

After that, I decided to start watching old movies. I bought a movie from a great site, nostalgia.com. I got "Resurrection" with Ellen Burstyn. A few weeks ago I remembered this movie I saw in the 80s, couldn't find it in the library or at Blockbuster so I found it on-line and had it in my hands within a week. I loved seeing it again. "The Green Mile" was on TV and I watched that. Both of these movies are about healing.

My son gave me a collection of movies years ago and in the last few days I've watched "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and today "Forrest Gump". That one made me cry, but it was such a beautiful movie. I'm debating what comes next. Maybe "Top Gun" or even "Grease".

Enough for now. Love and prayers to all you bloggers. Hopefully I'll be chatting with some of you tomorrow night.

Prayer Girl

Wednesday 7/15/09 - "IS YOUR UMBRELLA BIG ENOUGH?"

""We are people who normally would not mix."
(Big Gook of Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter 2, p. 17)

A person's age, marital status, color, religion,
profession, socio-economic status, legal status
has never had anything to do with
their ability to help me.

"UNLIKELY FRIENDS"
________________________

"We stood at the turning point."
(Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter 5, p. 59)

When I reached that turning point,
I took my head out of the sand,
oops - out from under my own wing,
ditched my denial and looked squarely at the truth....
I was an alcoholic.
I was powerless over alcohol.
I needed restoration to sanity.
I couldn't restore myself.
No human power could restore me.
I turned my life over to God.
He restored me to sanity!

"STEPS ONE, TWO, AND THREE"

_______________________________________

I remember my first "best friend"
in Alcoholics Anonymous.
She helped me file my income tax after I was divorced.
I had never completed an income tax return in my life.
She hand sewed my wedding gown as a
wedding gift when I married Mr. Steve.
She returned to drinking and died
as a direct result of her alcoholism.
In my heart she is still my friend -

"FRIENDS FOREVER"
______________________________

(This little guy has been caught without a big enough umbrella!)

"IS YOUR UMBRELLA BIG ENOUGH?"

MY UMBRELLA IS GOD and He Is Big Enough
to protect me in all circumstances.

Prayer Girl

Monday 7/13/09 - "IN SEARCH OF A SPIRITUAL BOOST"

"IN SEARCH OF A
SPIRITUAL BOOST"

I'm in search of a spiritual boost, an extra dose of spiritual lift, a movement just a little closer to God. What better way to achieve this than to express gratitude....gratitude for all that God has given me. So, this Sunday night, I am grateful for:

I am grateful for the spiritual boost I can get from just taking a nap. I was thinking about this after reading a section from our Al-Anon reader, "Having Had a Spiritual Awakening" at our Friday 11th step meditation meeting. It read, "...napping...lends an unforseen touch of spiritual experience to my day."

I am grateful when I am able to quiet my mind and slow my pace enough to just lie down, relax and nap. That may mean actually sleeping and sometimes just resting - either way it opens my mind to God.

I am grateful that I have learned how to take care of myself in other ways besides taking a nap if I want to. I have also learned when I need alone time, to give it to myself. I know when I need to express an emotion rather than stuffing it like I used to do. Today my sponsor touched my hand and I cried. Sometimes they are tears of joy and sometimes sadness. I am able to express joy and love. I am just grateful to be able to feel. There was a time when I couldn't.

I am grateful that the last person to speak at my Sunday morning Al-Anon meeting told a joke that I and everyone in the room laughed at with delight.

Question: What kind of insurance do co-dependents buy?
Answer: MY FAULT!

I am grateful to have a sponsor who:
1. knows me
2. has my trust
3. can be the voice of reason when I am lacking it
4. is able to remind me of Al-Anon principles, tools, and program wisdom

I am grateful that when God opened the door to sobriety, I surrendered and stepped through.

I am grateful for the twelve steps that restored me to sanity, to right relations with others, and a right relationship with God.

I am grateful for the people who read my blog and for those who post blogs. So often I read something I need to hear, that makes me laugh, or reinforces my own thoughts.

I am grateful that Mrs. Duck has not abandoned her "setting" duties. She is now standing over the eggs sometimes, sitting on them at other times. I'm wondering if the eggs are beginning to move a little. We'll see. So for those who are wondering - no hatchlings yet. I am checking constantly. I promise to let you know when the ducklings begin to make their appearance.

I am grateful for all the women I was able to speak to today. They are such a blessing to me. They call me to talk, to share problems, to ask for my experience, strength, and hope, or to just "touch bases". I truly believe that I get far more from them than I can ever give. I thank God for them.

I am grateful that I have many people praying. Prayer is so very powerful. I am grateful for my belief in prayer.

I am grateful to be a:
Prayer Girl

Sunday 6/14/09 - "ANOTHER DAY ON THE ROAD"

"ANOTHER DAY ON THE ROAD"

Hi everyone,

Well, it's "day 5" of our road trip. What a wonderful time I've had since arriving here in the "Land of Lincoln". Meeting bloggers and lots of other AA folk at a wonderful outdoor barbecue at the home of friend and fellow blogger, AKAnnie, was worth the 1200 mile trip. Met a fellow blogger from Canada who traveled more than twice that far to attend this sober gathering. The plan is to meet him this Sunday morning at a small little Catholic Church in town before leaving for our next stop.

After mass we'll be on our way to about 30 miles from here to visit "Our Lady of the Snows Shrine" in Belleville, Illinois. We've been there twice before over the last few years and it has become a very special destination. I'll try to get some pictures, but I know they will not be able to fully capture the beauty, peace and serenity of the place.

We've found several AA meetings in the area during past visits. I'm sure we'll make our way to a meeting today, tomorrow, or both....looking forward to that feeling of "being at home" that always happens in an AA room no matter where it is being held.

We'll be staying at the Shrine Hotel right on the shrine grounds with a restaurant and church within walking distance just across the road. We'll be there till Tuesday when we'll be back on the road and headed to stay with one of my sponsees for a few days. She and her husband have a newly built home on the top of a mountain in the Smoky Mountains of N.C. What a gracious offer for us to visit. God is good.

Signing off from our Super 8 motel in the middle of the corn fields,

Prayer Girl

Friday, 5/1/09 - "THE BOX - IV"

Every Friday, compose a short story
of 55 words - no more, no less,
if you want to join in the fun and games
and give it a try..post your story
and report to the boss G-Man!

"THE BOX - IV"

They had met sitting at adjacent tables. She averted her eyes, then sneaked peeks at this stranger who fairly glowed.

The lady smiled at her with a smile that lit up the cafe and said softly, "Hi, I'm Lucy. We both seem to be alone. Want to talk?"

She hesitated and then cautiously replied, "Okay!"

Prayer Girl
_______________________________________
Note: The following was LAST WEEK'S "55 Flash Fiction Friday":

THE BOX - Part III

Here she is, his marionette, trying desperately to pull her own string, reach out for that pink phone.

Suddenly it rings. Fear courses through - dark and quick. She reaches, snatches it up.

Hears, "Remember me? We met at the coffee shop last week. Wanna try one of the meetings, twelve steps I told you about?"