Fabulous Program

Last night was one of those – “I laughed so hard, I cried” nights. My roommate and I were at it again making each other laugh as hard as we possibly could. I’m not sure what our neighbors think about our uncontrollable laughter. I suspect that they already believe we are peculiar and now with the crazy laughter, they think we are certifiable. I’m not sure how it all started, but one comment lead to another and the next thing I realized, I was laughing so hard tears were coming out of my eyes. It could have started with dinner which was beef. My roommate wasn’t satisfied with this meal so he made himself something to eat when we came back to the room. He made a dish of Mexican rice and sardines. (typists note - OMIGOD!! – does that not sound disgusting??) He offered me some and as is the case most times when I decline something I dislike, I turned up my nose as I said, “No, thank you.” Then it went from there because here we were two somewhat successful business people sitting in our prison dorm on a Saturday night staring at a bowl of rice and sardines. My how far we have come! Fortunately, we are able to make light of our situations and laugh. Taking it a step further, I am very fortunate to have met my roommate because we spend more time laughing than most other things. The evening went by quickly and I even stayed awake past 9:00 pm which is a huge step for me.

We finally settled down and went to sleep. Somewhere after this journey is completed and I am employed with a health care plan, I do need to get my kidneys or bladder checked. If I have a 12 ounce cup of tea or hot chocolate after 7:00 pm I am up several times during the night. This occurred last night and I have even seen this happen to me during the day when I drink a certain quantity of water. I really don’t know what it is and probably this has been with me all my life but in my current situation it is more pronounced. My liquid intake seems a great deal less than it has ever been yet I still make these visits to the restroom even more frequently. With only 100 plus days remaining, I will monitor and it hasn’t gotten worse but it is still annoying.

As I was shaving today, I noticed how long my hair has gotten. I think my last haircut was over 3 months ago and my hair is now covering more than half of my ears. This could be the longest my hair has been in a very long time. I took out the picture my mother sent me from 24 years and in a month or two without getting a haircut, my hair would be just as long. I am faced with a dilemma which is getting my haircut or letting it grow for the next 100 plus days. The really good barber has departed the camp and now we have a few guys who are just learning. They are very good at shaving heads and creating buzz cuts. I am not looking for either one of these as I wouldn’t look very good. I am so skinny that if I shaved my head, I would look sickly. I will probably bite the bullet and get my hair cut this week in preparation for my wife’s visit in less than 3 weeks.

I read the daily verse from “Living the Wisdom of the Tao”. The title for the verse for today is “Living by the Three Treasures.” These are mercy, frugality, and humility. This truly is very simple because mercy translates into living with compassion, good heartedness, love, kindness, and charity. Frugality translates into living in economy, moderation, and thrift or simplicity. Humility translates into “not presuming” to be above nature, daring not to be ahead of others, and not always trying to be number one. Wow, this verse was so appropriate for today because my dear friends from GA were arriving for the GA visit.

The GA Program and my cherished friends embody these three qualities. I felt the love as soon as I heard my name announced informing me I had a visit. These dear friends were so generous to come this morning. I was greeted with hugs and kisses as I entered the visiting area. The connection I share with each of these 6 people who came today goes beyond the common bond of suffering with a compulsive gambling addiction. Each one of us is in recovery and no longer suffering as I believe we are all thriving. I was certainly thriving from their presence. I was so happy to see them and couldn’t believe four weeks had passed by since the last meeting. Where does the time go indeed?

We all took seats at the concrete picnic table and I could feel the physical and spiritual warmth emanating from each person. The underlying theme of today’s meeting was honesty. GA is first and last an honesty program and it took me 20 years to finally accept this and once I accepted this virtue the Program has come easy and my life continues to change in a positive manner. One of my dear friends made a comment stating the name of this meeting should be changed to the Sunday Morning Brunch Meeting! The amount of food is incredible and my amazing friends continue to cater to my finicky eating habits. My day and week were made brighter by the goodness of these very dear people! Thank you all once again!