"HOMECOMING"

(or "Attack of the Gratitudes")

Thanksgiving is a few months away, but Tab S. remembers the last one vividly.

By Tab S.

"Homecoming". . .
Thanksgiving starts the big Holiday season. Retail sales shoot up and meeting attendance increases. We expect it. We even look forward to it. We have the opportunity to greet newcomers and we also get to see the people who we haven't seen in a while.

For me, Thanksgiving is always the perfect day to re-visit my original home group. I've moved since my early days in program and, although I find comfort in meetings all over the country, I always miss my home group.

When I walked into the room, I found I was the first person there. There was the sweet, yet sharp, smell of coffee in the air probably from a meeting just the night before. Being the first person in the room, I thought I would open the closet and find the banners, literature and meeting book and set the room up.

I placed the TRADITIONS on the wall where I always remember the banner being placed. I did the same for the STEPS. I found the meeting book and placed it at the head of the table and then started the coffee brewing.

One by one, 12 steppers began to appear. I was happy to see some old friends and was welcomed back with open arms. I smiled and said "hello" to people I had not yet met but knew I would know on a deeper level by the end of the meeting.

"Who changed things around? Why are the banners in different places?" someone in the room cried out.

"I placed them where I remembered them being before," I responded.

Laughter tickled the room as an old timer said "Tab, don't you know not to mess up the order of things especially on a day like this?"

"I Guess things have changed since my last visit here."

I was surprised to see that the banners were shifted and moved to different locations on the wall. It really mattered to some people that they were placed in the spot they expected them to be in. I gave one of my fellow old timers a quizzical look. She patted my hand and whispered "Sometimes a little thing like that makes a few of us feel safer." Two banners.... correctly placed.....order in the universe restored.

After the main speaker concluded her talk, we went around the room, one by one, and shared. The topic changed in a matter of minutes and became a sharing of "Gratitude." It was Thanksgiving and many of my fellow steppers were struggling with the "family situation" and the pressures that the Holidays can bring to Recovering folk. ( I know I need not explain this, so I'll move on....)

It seemed everyone was grateful for the people in the room. Grateful for the strangers who chose to share this hour and a half of their life to bring their pain, their experience, their strength and hope to the room. Grateful for the room itself. Grateful for the program.

"I'm having an attack of the gratitudes!" a young lady cried out, when it was her turn to speak.

"Sounds like a George Lucas film, "One fellow shared, when it was his time to share, "Star Wars: Attack of the Gratitudes!"

(I'll bet John M. will have Buster and Sporto starring in this very strip shortly:-)

It has been a long time since I've been in a meeting where everyone shared tears and their feeling joy for the program. This was truly a wonderful day filled with "Attacking Gratitudes." A Joyful Thanksgiving.

I hope your Holidays are filled with Joy, Peace and Serenity.

Keep working it! It does work if you work it.

- Tab S.

(Tab S. is an artist living in New York. You can write Tab at RecoveryWorld : staff.contact@RecoveryWorld.com. NOTE: Be sure to write the words "RecoveryWorld VISITOR ATTENTION TAB S" in the subject area of your e-mail or it will be automatically deleted.)

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