Am I glad we can see the end of all the restrictions of gatherings of people and especially the standards relating to the wearing of masks. I’m certain there may be situations where we won’t attend some large gathering or situations where the exposure is higher than we might want to chance.

For me, I have enjoyed the ZOOM methods many groups utilized. It took a bit of learning the rules of the drill but when learned, it all worked just fine. These  ZOOM sessions of St. X Noon, my home group, usually drew a goodly number, perhaps not as many as the regular sessions. But, it only takes 2 to “have a meeting” so attendance wasn’t an issue. It was interesting to see the number of people from around the country, some were fairly regular attendees.

But of course, I missed the intimate feelings from participation with people of like minds as far as our alcoholism is concerned, and I really look forward to reconvening our “live” discussion meetings.

I felt a problem some days about 30 minutes before a ZOOM meeting started. I felt less disciplined to turn the ZOOM program on. I knew there were hundreds of meetings “on the internet” which would enable me to excuse myself from my regular meeting and pick up a substitute later that day.

But the lesson I re-discovered is that an important part of the Program is the discipline we attach to ourselves that calls us to set a program, a path, a known time we have gone to a certain meeting. We found we always learned a lot, picked up some wisdom and enjoyed the relationships we developed by personal contacts.

I didn’t mind ZOOMing, but I am looking forward to this Fall when I suspect we will shift back to that old platform of physical gatherings to share the message.

“See you at the meeting.”

Jim A, St X Noon, Cincinnati