kicked out of prison

On the second Thursday of the month, I go to a 12-step meeting at the local prison.  The vast majority of the time, the process of getting walked in goes reasonably.  Tonight we got all way into the door of the meeting rooms by a route I had not taken in five years.  That route takes an extra 5 locked doors and a locked elevator.  It always reminded me to the opening from the old TV show Get Smart.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElqZms_SUjg

Once we got to the door of the meeting room, the four of us going to the meeting were told that the meeting was canceled due to a once-a-year conflict with a religious program that goes on for three days.  The four of us took it with amazing grace and turned around to head home.

My two friends that rode out there with me joined me in an animated conversation on the way home as we took the scenic route (in the dark).   It was a nice drive and a great conversation.  The amazing part of being turned away was that none of us showed the least sign of ill-mannered disappointment.

I am grateful for happy friends with little drama in their lives—although we all know others with a high level of insanity going on in their lives.  It is a bit like being behind bullet-proof glass in a fortress on high ground in a hurricane.  We are safe, but it looks pretty crazy out there and nobody is clamoring to get outside and mix it up in the storm.  J