Busy day

So this is a picture of the thing that I am forsaking - red meat at its lovely, aged best.  We are staying in the hotel where Gallagher's is - and they are among the best of the best for New York steak houses.  Oh, and we're across the street from Smith & Wollensky's as well.  You could cry, they're so close and yet so far away.  The smell of burgers, steaks, skin on fries are just so enticing and frustrating at the same time.  But I'm still doing well.

Today I went to an AA meeting, which is part of my coursework for Treating Chemical Dependency.  I went to the 10 am Language of the Heart meeting at the Riviera Casino/Hotel.  It's hidden away and in a corner in a non-populated wing of the casino.  Like all other AA meetings, the refreshments were funded.

It was a small group, 10 people including me, and we all spoke.  I told them about being a social worker in the court, and about having to give up something that was important to us for 15 weeks, and then got to watch them in their camaraderie and fellowship, and to see how they help each other.  And learned more about it being one day at a time.  A good number have a lot of sobriety under their belt, but even more tendencies towards relapse.  One gentleman stated that after his last relapse, it took him 1 1/2 years to regain sobriety, that he knew he had the capability of another relapse in him, but that he didn't know if he had another 1 1/2 years of regaining sobriety, and that was what kept him on the straight and narrow.  Folks from all walks of life, retirees, a trauma doctor, a consultant.  It really is a disease that can hit anyone at any time for any reason.

I walked back the nearly 4 miles to meet Wayne for lunch (seafood/sushi), and then came back to the room, where we pretty much collapsed.  We are headed out to a buffet dinner tonight before we go to see another Cirque show, but I think I can handle it - one meal at a time.