Friends of Bill W.

[Greyson]

Waving "Hiya" to Tommi and Lefty. I don't know why, I am just partial to calling you "Lefty."

[LeftWriteFemme]

Originally Posted by Greyson

Waving "Hiya" to Tommi and Lefty. I don't know why, I am just partial to calling you "Lefty."

I have to tell you a million years ago when I was creating my screen name it never once occured to me that I was going to spend my life being called "Lefty" ..........lol

Waving HI back at you, Greyson!!!!!!

[Tommi]

Originally Posted by Greyson

Waving "Hiya" to Tommi and Lefty. I don't know why, I am just partial to calling you "Lefty."

Hey there Greyson , so good to see you... We are setting up some times and places for meetings at the Reunion. More to follow...Any suggestions are welcome.

Friends of meetings!

Cold embers to a Fire Within. That's how many of us felt, caught between conflicting moralities, maladaptive behaviors, and little understanding, support, or hope of finding it. We had to break our personal block to transcendence. Many of us found it in 12 step programs (Friends of Bill). Meetings will be held on Friday____ and Saturday at ____ and on Sunday at _____. All meetings will be in the ___ Room - "Our Place". No meeting is scheduled for Thursday. If you are interested in leading a meeting, speaking, volunteering in some way, send a PM.

[LeftWriteFemme]

March 7

Migration

Why does an alcoholic leave the drink behind? To go where it’s warm, because drunkenness has become cold comfort, because the climate has changed. The wind resists the flight from the bottle and the initiative to break the flow is rotated among the flock. Though each member of the band plays their part, the one diverting the air just ahead of me and the one just behind trumpeting still hold the majority of my attention. Flocking is my primary purpose because survival is the intention of life, demise the intent of my illness. One more sober day is all I can ask, it’s all I ever need, it’s all that’s ever offered.




Put wheels under procrastination



*

POPCORN FLAVORED LOLLIPOP

I can't know it, I can't believe it,
The world of popcorn flavored lollipops
Is now being visited upon me.

Both a surprise and a comfort,
A popcorn flavored lollipop
Given to me by a gas station attendant.

A blast of sugar and salt wake my tongue.
What can a mind do
In the face of buttered-salted bonbon on a stick?

I wouldn't have thought of it, no in a million years.
This is somehow a source of hope to me,
There are open minded people living in the world around me.

I often pray for creative thinking on the part of my Higher Power
I inadvertently dismiss the populace
Who are producing prodigies of ingenious originality and cunning.

I want the world to be gifted with what sobriety has given me.
Candy is not world peace
But many great things start with a little sweetness

[Lady Pamela]

I just wanted to say ty for creating such a great thread! As you already know,you never know who is watching. Or who might need to hear what you have to say.

I am happy to say my daughter just celebrated her first birthday on the 15th. It is nice to get her back...Smile

October 10th will be my 20th birthday since I quit. I am a rocovering addict.

Have a Blessed Day!

[LeftWriteFemme]

Originally Posted by Lady Pamela

I just wanted to say ty for creating such a great thread! As you already know,you never know who is watching. Or who might need to hear what you have to say.

I am happy to say my daughter just celebrated her first birthday on the 15th. It is nice to get her back...Smile

October 10th will be my 20th birthday since I quit. I am a rocovering addict.

Have a Blessed Day!

Thank you so much and congratulations on your recovery and the recovery of your daughter. What a gift to have our kids safe and sober in a world so filled with drunken traps.
You are right I have no idea who is reading but I am always so glad when what I write helps.

Have a great day,

Sherrie

[LeftWriteFemme]

March 8


Résistance



Resisting tough love is approaching long run action with short run thinking. I hate to set the toddling babe down lest he fall, but in the end if I do not put him down he and I will both be the worse for it. Whether I see a forest or I see trees depends so very much on my perspective, also on my willingness to delay the prevention of minor scrapes to eliminate the need for permanent scaring. The theme is greater personal responsibility and less irrational fear. Guarding tomorrow’s possibilities by not hamstringing them today through the resistance of tough love saves lives, it saves mine.




Raise the roof on your thinking



*

PICTURES & FRAMES

I paint my way into the corners of the frames.
Each picture I fill diligently,
Color, texture, all the tricks I use.
I work hard to get the desired effect.
I hold nothing back, I put heart and hopes forward.
I load my brush with pigment,
I propel my tongue out of my mouth,
I use it for balance like a kangaroo uses it's tail.
Stroke after stroke I layer the image
My depiction is fresh to me,
I bring the green, the red, the blue,
All of them flow from me.
The canvas fills, my soul soars through the tinctures
Then the disappointment begins,
The complaints, the lamentations,
The perspective is off.
I can't seem to contain this scene
Within the confines of this gilded prison.
I readjust, I tilt my head
I paint from the bottom up, then the top town, No---No.
I must pick up a new canvas and frame.
The oak, burnished and honeyed brown.
I cast to the side the gilt and sculptured casing.
I lay it along the wall with the others.
The many discards of my life
As yet the obvious has escaped me.
The tint, the hue, the angle
Size may diverge but that is all.
I have recreated the same scene
In all the frames,
In all my attempts,
I have painted only one picture.

[LeftWriteFemme]

March 9


Revelations


And I, Sherrie, had a new freedom and a new happiness for the first freedom and the first happiness were passed away. And there were no more tears. This is how it should be and for the most part this is how it is. Hell’s gates hang broken on their hinges and I walk free. The world is mine to explore and I am happy. More than a notion, my life is a fact; sounder than a bank note and I am on an emotional foot race to keep pace with my recovering self. Could it be lost? Lost like paradise, lost like I was lost before? Why, yes, all could be lost and that is what makes this freedom truly free and this happiness truly happy, they are mine, mine to keep and mine to lose, they may not be in my control but they are within my reach.




Voir dere contempt

*


VOLUNTARY MUTE

I have learned I don't have to answer just because someone asks.
I have learned to change subjects.
I have learned it is better to say nothing.

Repeating the phrase, "It's just my opinion."
Followed with, " I could be wrong."
Has proven insufficient.

Somehow things frequently turn out worse than I expected
But as of yet none have turned out better.
This upsets.

People become angry when I am correct.
They are less angry when I'm silent.
I tell the truth and trouble follows.

I didn't get sober to lie so I keep my mouth shut.
There is no reason to distress folks
And reality has a way of doing that.

Silence is my new defense
I hide in it
And find my new freedom.

Unless it's my sponsor, my sponsee or my cherished friend
Battening down the hatches saves me from a tempest
And spare others their outburst.

[Tommi]

Originally Posted by Lady Pamela

I just wanted to say ty for creating such a great thread! As you already know,you never know who is watching. Or who might need to hear what you have to say.

I am happy to say my daughter just celebrated her first birthday on the 15th. It is nice to get her back...Smile

October 10th will be my 20th birthday since I quit. I am a rocovering addict.

Have a Blessed Day!

Welcome. Addiction runs deep. I am so glad your daughter found her way out, and with a bonus to meet a Mom who knows the struggle. Congrats on the almost 20.

and , again my thanks to LeftWriteFemme for keeping the light on and her daily inspiration and poetry.

[Lady Pamela]

Just a small share.

[LeftWriteFemme]

March 10


Isolation

I isolate from you, I isolate from others, I isolate from friends, isolate from G-d, I practice connecting by connecting with my sponsor, practice connecting with my friends, practice connecting with G-d, finally I am able to connect with you, the first thing I do is isolate us from them, my sponsor, my friends, my G-d, they are all now on the outside of the bubble of us and I must start again, only now I must try to maintain the you and me connection while at the same time connect with the rest. Are we still us if I am connected with them? Are we still us if we are in the midst of the crowd I think of, the crowd I call, them? Just because they see us as us, refer to us as us, are we still us if we don’t feel like us to me? If I don’t know us in the landscape of hordes are we still we? Isolation is an attempt at preservation, how can we best be preserved without being pressed in a book or jarred or jammed? You say let us be, and I say that’s how I got us are you sure that’s how I keep us? And you hug me tight.




Bloom with or without a garden


*

THE WALL OF PLEASANT

How quickly I am protected by a sweet smile
A disarming countenance and gentle phrase
Save my skin and psyche.

No longer do I defend my reputation as a wit or critic
I let it all flow by.
The simpler I appear the more effective the facade.

The energy I conserve not fighting loosing battles
Is well spent in the company of like minded sober friends
In the pursuit of sober lives.

I stay out of the fray and behind this partition
It's insides are posted with announcements proclaiming my opinions
And the lunacy of the person on the other side.

The reading of these notices
Does not persuade me to dismantle the enclosure
But encourages me to keep it sound.

Many year of shelter behind this vine covered fortification
Allow restraint of my words spoken and written
To safeguard my sanity

When I am gifted with comment I am spared the desire for credit
Boundaries are a blessing
And living within them a saving grace.