What an incredible weekend...

So my sisters, Sue and Sandy, are twins - born July 27th. And this summer, Sandy started a new job and her husband became president of the local chapter of their Harley-Davidson club. (Yup, Steve's got a sister who's a biker babe. Of course, she's also an accountant..but who's keeping score?)

In the same time-frame, sister Sue started (and finished) the process of moving into a new condo. So with one thing and another, it was the third week of September before we thought about celebrating their birthday. But, with a week of enforced leisure after completing my temporary employment at the _Garfield Park Conservatory, I decided to run away and spend some time with my sisters, and with my original AA home group(s) in Toledo.

It's been both good and bad, I guess. Good in that I got to see people I enjoy, have some delightful conversations, get to some great AA meetings, help Sue & Jeff in the continuing struggle of fitting their belongings into the new condo (the garage was still *pretty* full...), and have some high quality family time.
It's bad because it turns out I missed the combined birthdays of a couple fellow students from back in Chicago over Friday night (which I would have known about, if I'd been in school and seen the flyers), and because from a distance I can see how much work I have to do in a number of areas of my Chicago life, and for that reason alone, it sucks to see the "ladder" I still have to climb detailed in such sharp detail.

But even given those niggling things, there were still some great things to be reminded of:
Ohio AA meetings - I got to meetings on Thursday night, Friday morning, and Sunday night. Powerful, amazing stuff - my Higher Power is definitely in the house when I'm here. Having said that, howeve, I'm still looking forward to being in Chi-town to be at my new home group, the Fireside Men's Group, this coming Saturday.
The blessings of family - the time I've had to share with both Sue & Jeff and Sandy & Dave is so great... even when you're doing mundane things like shopping (not my favorite task) or unpacking and restacking boxes. Thank you, God, for restoring my relationships with my sisters in sobriety!
Good eats - especially a trip with Sue-nJeff, San-n-Dave, and Jeff's sister Chris & her husband Ernie to Tony's Ribs, in Findlay, Ohio (where San-n-Dave live). For you carnivores, Tony's ribs are absolutely fall-off-the-bone tender and melt-in-your-mouth, with a delightful molasses-n-honey sauce that is just to die for. I'd had sweet ribs before Tony's, and it wasn't a happy experience. But this was just heaven - and the salad bar before hand was fresh, crisp, and _loaded. If you're within 50 miles of Findlay, Ohio, it's worth the drive.
Turkeyfoot - a fun game of strategy, played with dominoes. Sue & San first played it in Phoenix one trip, and brought a set of dominoes home. We had a blast playing for several hours - and the game also facilitated memories of our collective families' pasts, and funny movie moments, and funny travel moments. In fact, it has been quite a while since we had laughed that hard about anything - which made those precious hours spent together even better. Truly one of the gifts of "being in the moment"!
Getting stuff done - when I got to Toledo, sister Sue definitely had "a List," but we got a number of very good things done for her. Fixed a problem with their dryer that we got fixed. Then, laundry, unpacking, and bunches of little stuff to be done. That just felt wonderful.

So, when Sue suggested that I stay over Sunday night, and go back Monday, it just sounded like a great idea. I'll see Sue off in the morning, get to the Early Bird AA meeting, have a good breakfast at the Reynolds Garden Cafe, and then hit the road back to Chicagoland.

Thank you, Lord God of power, for gifts of "the times of our lives." This truly is a gift that keeps on giving!