east bay

So much has changed since I last posted to this blog! I decided to leave my last job in Novato after they laid off my stellar boss and started relocating people to Iowa. No thank you to a move to Iowa. I also lost faith in the quality of the product.

Luckily, I found a wonderful job in Berkeley. Now I'm looking to move down closer to work and rid myself of the hour and ten-minute commute each way.

Now I am thinking I'd like to use this blog to jot down my discoveries about Berkeley and the east bay.

Let's just hope and pray that no one likes reading my blog and so I avoid the fate of my dear Petite Anglaise.

Anyhow, this morning, I got myself up at 5:30 a.m. and made it to a 7 a.m. meeting at the Berkeley fellowship on McGee. It struck me as such a lovely neighborhood, so much like a real town even in such a densely populated city. Trees, sidewalks, front porchs. The clubhouse looks to be on the same property as St Joseph the Worker, which made me think, of course, of Jofie. He will be here at the seminary soon.

When I first walked in, I was the only white person there and I realized that somehow in all my travels, I had yet to be part of a meeting where I was a minority in that way. African-American people as a new thing? How could this be when I've lived just a stone's throw away geographically for most of my life? I felt immediately at home, though. It was the program just as it always is and it was warm welcoming fellow drunks. My people.

It reminded me of when I lived in London. It was completely intriguing there to find out all the cultural differences, the nuances of language and expression, learn about my own assumptions and see things in new ways. This racially diverse east bay, I thought to myself, could be as rich a discovery as that ever was.

I liked how respectful of the program everyone there seemed to be. When people were reading the Big Book out loud, if someone wasn't sure of a word, someone nearby would prompt them with it. It was more important the the meaning of the book came across and that people read out the right words than anyone walk on eggshells around some concern about insulting someone for their reading ability. It seemed not only to honor the program but it removed any attitude of pity for the reader.

After about 20 minutes, I could feel my body relaxing in a way it hasn't for a long time. It felt 'solid' in there. I got to mention my 18 year anniversary.

After the meeting, I said hi to a gal who had shared about being right in the middle of her 4th step. She invited me to be the speaker at the 7 a.m. meeting Monday morning. So that's a great start in Berkeley, I think.