Old-Timers and Gumbo

I got to the men's group way early tonight. I figured I'd help set up chairs before the meeting. I actually ended up freezing my butt off for about 40 minutes. No worries, though. I was still where I needed to be.

Eventually someone in the church opened the door for me. I went in, turned on all the lights, put out the chairs, and turned up the heat. A couple of old-timers came in not long after that, and we stood around and chatted. Not about anything in particular. They told some risque jokes, we talked about a painting of Jesus that we see every week but have never taken a good look at, and discussed some recent news story. An old-timer, by the way, is someone with alot of years under their belt.

When the meeting started, we all sat down with our coffee and listened to our moderator. He shared about his beginnings in the program. I came forward afterward and talked about the guy who just approached me about getting sober. Figured it was relevant to the discussion as, hopefully, he'll be working some kind of recovery soon. That's up to him, of course. There are plenty of great sponsors there.

At the end, the guy who picked up his 29 year chip spoke. I thoroughly enjoyed how he described the fellowship. There are people in my meetings from all walks of life. Businessmen, cabdrivers, politicians, plumbers, celebrities and school teachers. It's a room full of people that you would never otherwise see together. Shaking hands and hugging. He said that it was all of us... in that room... that kept him sober. He compared us to a gumbo. The individual ingredients alone don't taste that great, but when you cook it all together, it's delicious. Didn't quite know how to take that, but I clapped for him anyway.