No coincidence

Well, the chili is cooking and the corn bread is done.  I am making two pots of chili from two different recipes.  And I'm doing the same with the cornbread.  I had a lot of fun this morning cooking and dicing and slicing. C. came in to check on me and make a few suggestions.  No beans are going into the contest chili, but the vegetarian one has beans in it.  Now I am going to clean up the mess that I've made.  I am actually pretty clean when I cook (I'm sure that you are thinking--good Syd, you washed your hands and didn't get any hair in the chili).  Not much was spilled on the floor, and the ramekins saved the day.  I used about ten ramekins for all the ingredients, and they were organized in order.  Just like a chemistry class!

I did a sponsee call in the midst of the cornbread making.  I told him that I would put him on speaker as I finished up what I was doing, if that was okay.  He is doing a fourth step via the long and detailed Blueprint for Progress.  It took me about four months to get through the fourth step, and I wasn't dragging my feet.  It is just a long process in Al-Anon.  Sometimes I would just like to go right to the AA inventory and not do the Blueprint. But a part of me, that part that says "go by the book" (the chemistry class attitude), says to do it the way that I was guided through the steps by my sponsor.  You see,  I can be impatient at times.  It is one of my defects.  I have to remind myself that the more that is revealed in a fourth step, the better things will go when we get to the rest of the steps.  Don't rush the process, I tell myself. 

Yesterday a man called who wants me to temporarily sponsor him while his real sponsor is getting over some stuff that has sidelined him for over a month and a half.   I said that I would be glad to help this man.  When I first met him in a meeting, he was angry, loud and dominant.  I remember thinking that he was not a person I wanted to get close to.  After a year in meetings,  he has changed remarkably.  He still likes to talk a lot, but the anger is gone.  He has humility now and seems filled with a lot of happiness.  I don't think that it is coincidence that he chose me to be a temporary sponsor.  He said that I exuded openness and a non-judging attitude.  Wow--if only he knew what I had originally thought of him when he first came in.  I will share that in an amends at the appropriate time.  For right now, I am grateful to be of service in the interim while his sponsor is getting back on track. 

Tonight is rowing with the team.  It will be good to be out in brisk winds and cold temperatures (for us anything in the 20's and 30's is cold).  After the row,  we generally go to dinner and enjoy some comraderie.  I am glad to have your comraderie on the blogs.  We may not always agree, but we keep an open mind.  That is what you have taught me.  Corny or not, thanks for that.