Tomorrow morning, I will catch a flight to Washington, DC, to the World Convention of Narcotics Anonymous.  This will be the fifth one I’ve had the privilege to attend.  It is an amazing event. My first one was in the mid-90s about a year after I got an internet account and searched for NA and found chat rooms and email lists and discussion boards full of recovering addicts from all over the world and it was an exciting time because many of us met up in person at that convention!  Each one I’ve attended my circle of recovering friends has grown exponentially from the previous one. When we stay in the middle of the boat, and get involved with service at various levels, that is one of the results.  At the last one I attended my friend who was newly coming back from a relapse was amazed that everywhere we went—every meeting, workshop, meal, hanging out in a sitting area—I would see people I knew.  That’s an amazing thing when you’re looking at 21,000+ folks from all over the world!

Not only will I get to reconnect in person with many friends, but I will also celebrate my belly button birthday and turn 69 years old.  If not for recovery and all that comes with it—a renewed relationship with God, 12 wonderful steps and 12 wonderful traditions and all the great literature that tells my story—you would have thought they intimately knew me and were writing about me personally in our literature–this would not be possible!  Like many of you, I probably wouldn’t even still be alive if not for the gift of desperation that gave me the willingness to go to any lengths to stop using.

Recovery Ministries has also been a very significant part of my recovery as well.  I was working at a church when I got clean and one day something came across my desk from the local Episcopal Addiction and Recovery Commission, and I was thrilled that the church had such a committee! And lo and behold, there was also a national Episcopal recovery organization—at that time called NECA (National Episcopal Coalition on Alcohol), and later NECAD (National Episcopal Coalition on Alcohol and Drugs) and even later RMEC (Recovery Ministries of the Episcopal Church) as we know it today.  I’ve been pretty much involved locally and nationally since hearing about them back in 1987. 

My 12-step fellowship was there for me when I got clean, my Episcopal recovery organizations were there for me—and one thing I learned that has stuck with me all these 37+ years—if I want to keep what I have, I should give back to others what was so freely given to me. My gratitude speaks when I care and share with others… And I thought today would be a good time to sign up for a Red Door Blog post!