Service Work

I'm answering the phones for the Dallas Alcoholics Anonymous Intergroup Office; it's called Nightwatch and what happens is a volunteer will man the phones from 5:30pm to 8:30am when the office reopens. It's been a while since I have done it and doing service that helps another alcoholic feels good. Been a busy night, probably twenty or so calls.

The one I just got broke my heart though. The guy is from New Orleans and he's seen television footage of his neighborhood; his is one of the ones where even the roofs are partially submerged. Everything he has left is in a LaQuinta hotel room in Plano, TX. Wanna hear the kicker?

He's grateful to be alive, sober and safe with his wife. He's shocked, you can hear it in his voice, and the magnitude of his loss has not hit him yet, but he is starting there: grateful to be alive, sober and safe with his wife.

He knows what matters in life.

Goddess bless and keep him and all of those hit by Katerina.

Gratitude List:
sober
healthy
wife
daughter
dogs and cat
sponsor in AA
relationship with the Goddess
friends (here and all over the world because of the magic of blogs)
job
home
reasonably secure and prosperous (as can be expected in this transient world)
AA

Best things I have ever seen:
Golden eagles flying over the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado
Bison on top of Elk Mountain in the Wichata Wildlife Refuge of Oklahoma
Turkey Vulture flying through my friend Jim's ashes when we spread them from the mountaintop
Hanging Lake near Glenwood Springs Colorado
Big Bend National Park
My daughter being born