one day at a time

Tried to go a meeting late this afternoon that I had not been to in 4 months.  The ramp to the room was stacked full of chairs in what might have been an effort to either install new flooring or clean the old carpet.  Since that was clearly not going to work, I went to my usual Sunday night meeting.  A friend was there an hour early since she got off work and did not want to drive home and then come back to Bellevue ten minutes after she got home.

We chatted in the parking lot for a bit, Leslee joined us and we talked for another half-hour before the meeting.  A couple of guys were in ill health before the meeting.   The secretary came in, looked poorly and went home after I volunteered to lead the meeting for him.  The other guy stuck it out and agreed to seek emergency care after the meeting for hearing and vision problems that have occurred over the last three weeks.

Leslee is also reading the book Flourish.  We talked about the power of optimism to the guy with the hearing & vision problems.   I assured him with a cavalier wave of my arm that I was optimistic he would be okay.   He laughed and felt a little better about his predicament of no job, no health insurance and the possibility of serious health problems.

We talked about living one day at a time being especially helpful when dealing with scary healthcare issues such as not being able to hear with one ear for the last three weeks.  Thanks to the progress I have made in my recovery, I did not ‘tease’ him with ’jokes’ about how even Steve Jobs did not have enough money to fix his health care issues.  [Jobs died at the age of 56 from pancreatic cancer last week with a net worth of $11 billion.]

I am grateful to be able to live one day at a time as a vital component of my emotional sobriety.  There is plenty of room for future progress, but it is good enough for today.