Giving Out Chips and All Hallow's Eve... Eve

Corny title, but hey, it's nice to have some of my goofiness back.

Had a good day at work. Had a really good... and surprising meeting too. I got there about 15 minutes early so I went in and helped set up. On my way to the restroom the moderator asked me if I would hand out chips. Not potato chips. Not fish and chips. AA chips. I paused for a moment. I'm always up for any kind of service work that is asked of me. Before I accept it, though, I give my sobriety date. Some service work requires that you've been in the program for a certain amount of time, you see. He said it was ok. It's not a monumental task. Doesn't have to be. I'm just stoked that I got asked... or as he put it "volun-told". It's a small reminder of how far I've come that someone actually singled me out to do something like that. Wouldn't have happened back when I was half-assing it. I just sort of lurked in the shadows back then.

We had a great speaker. He told us his story from when he was in boarding school and kind of sheltered to when he started his drinking career in a college fraternity. After college he said he'd become very successful at his job, but drank non-stop when he got home. His first wife divorced him and took the kids, and his second wife died of complications due to alcoholism. None of this gave him cause to stop himself. He said it wasn't until he'd suffered mild brain damage after an intense bender that he quit. I think the whole room found something to identify with in his story. I certainly did. Oh. I ran into my sponsor there too.

Now, some people have asked me what I'm going as for Halloween. I wince a bit at the question, but then answer that I'm working that night. I usually do something with friends. Dress up and go to a get together, watch a scary movie, then maybe walk up to the cemetery (and take pictures of it through the fence). It's fine though. Can't celebrate them all and I need the money. Gotta prioritize. Anyway... I'm off Wed. so I get to go see Buckwheat Zydeco and The Subdudes! Last free concert in Lafayette Square of the year. Woot.