Watching The Lights Come On In Their Eyes

One the best things about spending time with people new in early recovery from alcoholism is watching “the lights come on” in their eyes.  When they come to a meeting on day one of not drinking or using they are typically hungover, going through withdrawals, have hit a crushing low point in their lives (aka bottom) and scared witless.  For those that work the program, life always gets better—sometimes quickly sometimes slowly. 

Those that jump in with both feet by not using/drinking, going to meetings, getting a sponsor, working the steps and being of service to others get the best results just like in working out at the gym or doing homework for school. 

There is a young woman who is 8 months pregnant that has been coming to our morning meeting for the last few months.  D is pretty quiet.  She talked about having a baby shower tomorrow.  Lea is baby crazy, cute babies make her all gooey.  We took D to a craft store today to pick out some yarn so that Lea can crochet her a baby blanket.   Then we went out to lunch.  On the ride home, she told us about living with her mother and brother. Sounds like they could use meetings and are not going.  It was sad, tough and scary.  It sounded like our time together was maybe the funnest thing she had done so far in recovery.

Tomorrow we will meet her in Bellevue and go to a Saturday morning meeting.  Then we will help her run some errands before her baby shower that she is putting on.  That is as close as I have ever come to going to a baby shower.  It will definitely be a new experience for all three of us.

I am grateful to have a clean and sober place to live.  Lea and I both enjoyed sharing a fun day with a young woman that has a lot on her plate with limited resources.  It was impressive to see how well she is doing with the resources available to her.  She is making full use of community resources and doing really well.  It was wonderful to watch the lights come on in her eyes today.