Awesome Speaker's Meeting

Yesterday ended with me going to the Monday evening Speaker’s meeting. I have stood by my commitment of going to at least one meeting per week ever since the family returned at the end of July. This week I had the opportunity to attend two meetings this week. The reason why I attended the meeting last night was twofold. First off I have been trying to get one of my sponsorees to attend a meeting for the past few months. I kept hearing I will attend “next week’s meeting.” The problem with this is there always seems to be a next week and next week never seems to arrive. However; when I called my sponsoree to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving I was told that they were ready to go back to a meeting and last night would be the night.

It is my duty as a sponsor to be there for my sponsoree and really it is my duty to be there for anyone in the GA Program that needs help. I had told my sponsoree that I would attend the meeting with them and will continue to join them at any meeting they attend. It didn’t matter to me that I had gone on Sunday evening; I wanted to do what the program preaches which is people helping people who have a gambling problem. The positive side to this is the fact that my sponsoree has not gone out and gambled even though they hadn’t attended a meeting in almost three months. I know for myself it would be wise to test myself like this because I need and want the GA Program in my life since it continues to save my life each and every day.

I have mentioned in the past that I am a kind sponsor and I don’t demand much of my sponsorees in fact I don’t demand anything. I do want them to understand the power of the program and how it can and will change lives. I am of the mindset that I can’t make people do what they don’t want to do but I can try to “guide” them in the proper direction. God knows no one could make me do anything until I was good and ready to commit myself to recovery. I had a few “interventions” before the final blow came as I was led out in handcuffs. Yes, it had to come to that for me to realize I can’t do this on my own and I am eternally grateful for everything in my life.

Getting back to my sponsoree; I haven’t hounded them to get to a meeting but I was very happy to see them attend the meeting last night and it was a wonderful meeting. Yes, it was a speaker’s meeting and the speaker was a very good friend who I met over three years ago when I entered the program. This is a person I admire, respect and is an all around great person. I have heard this long time member speak in the past and each time it gets better and better. This is a person that has been very influential in my recovery and even appeared at my sentencing hearing as a “character” witness for me. I really like this person and cannot say enough about them. I was mesmerized as this dear friend spoke and as usual I learned something.

This is a member who has been associated with GA for over 25 years and really “gets” the program in every way possible. I had the good fortune to do a few one on one sessions with this dear friend prior to my sentencing and hearing them speak last night was a pleasure. I do hope my sponsoree gleaned something from the meeting and I think they did judging by the look on their face after the meeting as opposed to their face prior to the meeting. I am so glad I had attended and yes, as usual I felt great after the meeting knowing that recovery is an amazing journey.

This morning I found myself back at the gym and the gym is still without hot water. It seems the gym is falling apart because not only was there no hot water for the second week the sound system stopped working and the day after Thanksgiving the doors opened five hours later than they were supposed to. I spoke with a manager and I was assured these problems are being rectified and the hot water should be fixed shortly. In the meantime I have four months remaining on my membership; I was able to garner a 30 day pass from a nearby gym but I will continue to giving my current gym the benefit of the doubt. This means I depart from the gym a sweaty mess and get in my car to go home and take a shower. This is okay by me because I had a great workout and the day was equally as great.

I had a meeting this afternoon that could very well be one of those meetings that turn into to something very big. It really is amazing how things work out and my life continues to work out for the very best. I have found an opportunity where I am doing my best to make the most of it and good things continue to happen such as today. The potential from this meeting is enormous and that is not an understatement. I believe this will come to fruition and the next step will be taken. However; this process will take time and “bridges need to be crossed”. This was a great first step and I am much energized with today’s events. I was brought on as a marketing consultant but my boss has me doing other things and I am so happy to be doing anything to help. I think today was a big help and I will continue to make the most of everything.