Genuine Love and Affection

This morning I had the honor and privilege to celebrate my one year birthday in the Gamblers Anonymous Program with three other wonderful people who I consider my dear friends. Normally our meetings are filled with genuine love and affection but this meeting went far beyond the normal love and affection. It truly was an outstanding collection of magnificent people and there was such a deep bond between all members I was truly blown away. There were so many moments when my eyes welled up from the powerful words that were said and the emotions that were shared. I consider myself a blessed person to have these fabulous people in my life.

The meeting started out with a very dear member sharing some WOW's and the meeting continued with this incredibly theme. It will be a morning I will never forget. One of the best decisions I made happened over one year ago was to enter the Saturday Morning Gamblers Anonymous meeting and my life has been forever changed.

This morning's meeting had over 40 people attend and some of the attendees came from great distances. I was moved by all the members in attendance and I was deeply touched by those members who made it a priority to attend this meeting. Those members understand the power of the Program and the meaning of Step 12 in the Gamblers Anonymous Program; "Having made an effort to practice these principles in all our affairs, we tried to carry this message to other compulsive gamblers."

The meeting was chaired by a very close friend and this friend did a remarkable job keeping the meeting moving and keeping it on track without hurting the deep spirituality that existed in the room. This meeting was very spiritual and I am so happy to finally understand what spirituality means and how it applies to my life. I am no longer floating alone in a bubble. I am walking side by side with some remarkable people and my Higher Power is always with me.

My Higher Power has finally been discovered. It has been discovered once I got my own arrogance out of the way. I cannot go on this journey alone and I don't have to go on this journey alone. I have my dear family (which was in attendance), the Program, my friends in the Program and my friends outside of the Program and most importantly my Higher Power to get me through each and every day.

My dear wife and children attended the meeting and I was honored to be in their presence. My children were extremely good in fact they were excellent. The meeting was 2 hours and 15 minutes long and this is a very long time to set for anyone including an 8 year old and 5 year old. These two children were incredible. My wife who is my rock had tears in her eyes at various different moments and she spoke with such clarity it truly was amazing. I have know my wife for 23 years and my love for her has grown so much for her in the past year.

I know what has happened is very bad but I do know what I am doing now is very good and will continue to be very good as long as I keep the principles of the Program alive in each day of my life. Without this Program and the genuine love and affection I have felt from everyone in the Program my life would be considerably different. I am so very happy to have experienced a day like today that I am a very blessed person. Lou Gehrig said; "I consider myself the luckiest man of the face of the earth". Today; I consider myself the most blessed person on the face of the earth. It was a magnificent morning.

After the meeting I had the pleasure of accompanying my son to his first soccer game of the season. The result was a 4-4 tie but my son scored two goals and as the ball went through the net each time he turned and looked over to where I was standing and gave me this huge smile. These are the moments in life that I will cherish forever. I was so very fortunate to be able to share this moment with my son. I thank my Higher Power for allowing me to share in all of today's wonderful gifts.