Gamblers Anonymous Meeting

First off I must congratulate my brother and sister-in-law on the birth of their first baby. Tyler Dennis was born June 26th at 11:35 pm Eastern Time; weighed 7 pounds 7 ounces and is 21 inches long. Mom and baby are doing fine and we can't wait to see the new baby.

This marks day four of our cross country adventure. We have stopped in Denver to visit my sister and her family and today was a decompression day for all of us. After being in the car for 12 hours yesterday we all needed this day. When we arrived at my sister's house after 11:00 pm we unpacked the car and we all went to sleep around midnight. All of us including me slept very well. In fact my head hit the pillow and the next thing I knew it was 7:30 in the morning. We were all exhausted and we needed this day so very badly. I do know we have about 25 hours of driving in front of us but we will take three days to accomplish this; there really is no rush so our drive will be bit more relaxed when we leave on Thursday.

Today we had a great visit with my sister and her family. My sister has two children; a 4 year old boy and a 2 year old girl. My nephew is almost exactly one year younger than my son and it is always "interesting" to see how they interact with one another. Today was a great day for the boys because they played so well together. Even though my nephew is one year younger than my son there is a fairly significant height and weight difference. My nephew weighs about 25 pounds less than my son and is head shorter but that doesn't matter to the boys. My nephew was following around my son all day long and my son was cherishing every minute. There is enough toys to keep them occupied and the weather is great so we took a long walk and went to the park where they played very well.

My eight year old daughter loves her cousins. She has four "girl" cousins and only one of them is very close in age to her but more on that next week when she pals around with her "best friend" in New Jersey. My daughter has two just about two year old girl cousins and she loves them so very much. My daughter is like a mother hen when she is with her younger girl cousins. She plays marvelously with her two year old cousin. She read her books; played with her extensively at the park and basically watched over her all day long. She has a great maternal instinct but this maternal instinct only seems to apply to her girls which is okay. They had a great time laughing and giggling all day long.

It was a fabulous day and to top it all off I got to attend a Gamblers Anonymous meeting here in Colorado. As "fate" would have it all as I like to say now as my "Higher Power" keeps watch over me there are two significant people who are associated with my sister and her family who are also in the Program. When they heard I was coming to visit they gave my sister a GA meeting schedule and told her if I wanted to go to a meeting they would be happy to take me. I wanted to go to a meeting because going to meetings and truly working the Program is one of the keys to my recovery so of course I said yes and chose tonight to go to a meeting.

I had someone who is very near and dear to my sister's family pick me up at my sister's house and take me to the meeting. We had met a few years ago and they knew all about my situation. We made small talk on the way to the meeting which was only a 20 minute drive. I was very anxious to see how a GA meeting operated outside of my little area and now I had the chance. Also; I needed to get to a meeting because my last meeting was a week ago Wednesday so I was definitely due.

We arrived at the church where the meeting was held a few minutes early and continued our conversation. When we arrived in the room there were only two members but again the meeting was not going to start for another ten minutes so it was still early. As we walked in the room the immediately saw the very familiar reading materials laid out neatly around the table. The yellow "combo" books were prominently displayed along with all of the other GA materials.

As it approached 7:00 pm more and more people came into the room and although I had never met anyone other than the person who brought me I felt a familiar connection. By the time the meeting started there were 19 people in attendance and all men except for one lone woman. This is a different make-up than we have back in my "home meeting" where the woman sometimes outnumber the man. I was told that there is a regular women's group which meets in the same room on Monday nights so attendance for women is usually sparse at the Tuesday night meeting.

The room was fairly large and somewhat comfortable. We sat at a round table where we combined four tables and sat in a circle. The meeting started a little differently than my other meetings with the serenity prayer and then we read certain sections of the yellow combo book even though there was a new member in attendance. We (I am sorry about the comparisons and please I am inferring one way is better than another I am just pointing out the differences) usually read the entire combo book when a new member is in attendance but they did not and I found out the reason later on in the meeting.

After reading we started the "sharing" or therapy portion and went around the room. I listened intently to each person and even though this was a room of strangers I was connected to each one. There stories maybe a little different than mine but the underlying theme is exactly the same; we are powerless to gambling and made our lives unmanageable and now we are trying to get our lives back. I have found the only way to get my life back is to constantly work the Program and tonight I was working the Program.

At about 8:00 pm we took a break and I spoke with other members. There was a new member in attendance and hopefully this new member comes back because they will never have to feel the way they feel tonight if they embrace the Program. We resumed sharing and I was the next to last to share. I tried to keep my story brief because what matters most to me is that I am in a place where I CAN recover from this baffling insidious addiction. Before attending GA I didn't know how to recover from my addiction and through the grace of God and GA I certainly know how.

The meeting ended at 9:10 pm and yes, it was a two hour and ten minute meeting but that didn't matter. What matters to me is attending meetings and working the Program. I saw the Program work with people I have never met before. In attendance at the meeting was someone with almost 25 years of recovery and this person is an inspiration to me as well as the member with 2 hours of recovery. They are both trying to make their lives better and I know as long as I stay connected to GA my recovery will stay on the correct path.

Here I am over 1,000 miles away from home; in a somewhat strange place but I felt great because as is always the case I feel so much better after attending a meeting. On our drive home my friend was very talkative and I noticed a big change in their demeanor from before the meeting. We talked and talked the entire 20 minute drive and time flew by. My friend came in the house to say hello to my sister and I thanked them for making time for me and taking me to the meeting. It meant a great deal to me and it was a fabulous day.