All is welcome here

Broken hearts and broken wings,
Bring it all and everything.
Bring the song you fear to sing.
All is welcome here.
And even if you broke your vow a thousand times, come anyhow.
We're stepping into the power of now
And all is welcome here.

I stood alone at the gateless gate
Too drunk on love to hesitate
To the winds I cast my fate
And the remnants of my fear
I took a deep breath and I leapt
And I awoke as if I'd never slept
Tears of gratitude I wept
I was welcome here
- Miten

There were three newcomers at the meeting last night. I was asked to give them a welcome to Al-Anon. I like to do that because it's important for them to hear that someone who was broken and had no song to sing, can now feel comfortable and at ease.

I literally ran into my first meeting because the address was wrong on the web site. I went to the old address which was in a housing project. I had no idea where the meeting was but came to the conclusion after wandering around for 10 minutes that it wasn't there. Finally, a lady popped her head out her door to ask me what I was looking for. I told her and she directed me to the Al-Anon meeting place that had been moved down the road a bit.

I didn't hesitate to get into the meeting. I didn't know what to expect. I carried my fears, my shattered dreams, my broken vows, my pain right into the room. And I found that I was welcome.

I can't remember whether I wept tears of gratitude at that meeting, but I know that I felt the tears inside. The gratitude came to me when phone numbers were given to me. And people told me to keep going to meetings because that was where I needed to be. I believed them.

I hope that the newcomers got the message that they are welcome. And the healing of their broken hearts and broken wings can begin.