It is
supposed to snow tomorrow for the first time this season. The rain & clouds looked like snow when
I was driving to Crossroads Mall this afternoon. It was only a cold rain in the lowlands. There was undoubtedly lots of snow in the
Cascade mountains 20 miles east of Bellevue.
After
meeting with Gigi and Mary at the mall, I did some grocery shopping and met
Mary at the Alano Club for a meeting of CoDA (Codependents Anonymous). Mary and I had dinner at the club during the
meeting.
It was a
peculiar interaction of wanna-be helpful people that were less than completely
helpful. I use a wheelchair to get
around. The CoDA members managed to place objects in
my way six times before, during and after the meeting. One lady pulled her car up so close to the
ramp while I was next to it that I had to knock on the hood of her car to get
her to back up three feet.
In the
meeting room, the group leader had arranged the chairs to block my way into the
room. When I opened the door to get in,
she moved her scarf. I moved the chairs
out of my way to get to the room so I
could close the door. The inside door
that led to the café was also blocked by chairs. I moved them out of my way to the café. When I came back, the inside door was propped
open by a chair—that was in my way. I
got around that chair and made a spot for myself in the second row of a small
circle of chairs so I could eat my dinner without bothering or being bothered by
others sitting too close to me.
The group
leader was flummoxed by the chaos of a less than perfect circle. She ended up rearranging chairs so as to trap
me in the back of the room. She asked if
there was anything else she could do to help,
I suggested she not be so co-dependent at the CoDA meeting. After the meeting, the leader left her chair
placed in front of the outside door. It
was dysfunctionally impressive. I have
never been blocked out by fellow group members 6x in a month, much less at one
60-minute meeting.
It was a
cozy meeting with Xmas lights on the wall and electric candle on the floor in
the center of the meeting space. I felt
right at home at the meeting in a way I had not felt since my first Alanon
meeting 13.5 years ago.
A steak
dinner, a great meeting, good fellowship, and then helping an AA member with
one day of sobriety made for a great trip to the Alano Club. Laughs with Mary made it all the better.
I came home,
put my groceries away and preemptively took out the garbage so I did not get
stuck in my apt with full trash cans and snow on the ground.
I am grateful
for warm supportive places to be, warm & loving friends and a warm place to
live. My cats are also warm, loving and
friendly cats. It is a good night.
Yes, it is a good night.
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