Just keep dancing...

To misquote Garrison Keillor, "It's been a busy week in the Pullman Historical District, my hometown..." A number of events have conspired to keep me out on the edge of my time and energy budget, which have been both a blessing and rewarding.

My work with three young men in the community of recovery has intensified for this last week - I don't know whether it's the phase of the moon, or the change of the seasons, but it has been a wee bit more intense, timewise, than I would have chosen. (Not that I want them to stop calling - on the off-chance they're reading this [very off]). The AA text tells me a truth that I've learned over and over again:

Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. It works when other activities fail...Life will take on new meaning. To watch people recover, to see them help others, to watch loneliness vanish, to see a fellowship grow up about you, to have a host of friends - this is an experience you must not miss. We know you will not want to miss it. Frequent contact with newcomers and with each other is the bright spot of our lives.

So this is not whining - just a partial explanation for my absence in the blogosphere.

There are many changes happening here, which is the other part of my absence. I am adapting - not always well - to a much different life as a carless commuter. The new job requires that I be "on" a lot more than my previous job - so no time to slip in creative moments. And I've also been wrestling with a couple personal demons - ones that have been hiding in the background for a while. It's a worthy wrestling - but it just sucks up time.

So I will be back here soon. But in the meantime, let me point you toward a wonderful, and powerful post by my brother Rick over at a new life emerging. That process of getting naked (in a spiritual, and not a physical, sense) is part of what I have been experiencing for the last month or so. Rick is always worthwhile reading, but this is especially appropriate for me. And there's only 5 days until the new Harry Potter movie opens. And God is still on the throne, and I'm sunny-side-up, suckin' air, sober, and bilaterally symmetrical. How much better can it get?

I'll see you soon...