This special event, every 5 years, is awesome and not to be missed! It can be overwhelming being with 50,000 of your closest friends and not see a familiar face. If you would like to share the magic of the experience with us, we have a GRATITUDE CRUISE HOTEL for alumni, their friends and families. The group rate of $149. per night, hot breakfast included. Suites start at $298. per night.
Click on hotel room to register: 
Click on photo to read about 2005 Convention: 
I don’t know if everything in the Bible is true, but I know everything in the Big Book is.
Jun 20th.
The Sunday morning perfume of simmering garlic
seasoning the pot
smokes up my kitchen with memories.
I see a wooden coffee grinder
with fine ironwork and a secret drawer
that held the prize. “No more chickory to stretch
it like during the depression” Dad said,
“cause these is good times.”
A bushel of fresh snails,
a pizza he carried all the way home
hot from Tremont Avenue warms my heart.
There was no such thing as delivery in those days.
Your Dad was the delivery man.
He pulled the Christmas tree every year
up four flights of stairs,
thrilled he could provide it to honor
his religion and family.
He placed every single piece of tinsel straight
like a prayer, from the top down.
As I start cooking for a feast
this morning in my pajamas,
I can only smile knowing he passed on to me
the excitement and joy of these two words…
“Company’s coming!”
Happy Father’s Day to the best Dad that ever lived.
Jun 20th.
Snow P., took all photos for this CD, American and Canadian versions. (one photo exception) for Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, Dion DiMucci.
Dion wrote a song for Paris Hilton this week…click here!
“All that we are is the result of what we have thought.” Buddha
Jun 12th.
I just came back from a cruise to Alaska where a posse of us carried the message to several small local meetings while on the road. At one meeting a gentleman was lamenting that he could not have a couple of beers in celebration of Memorial Day. After all, it was summer, and it was his American right to have a few beers. He could not make the connection between beer and the fact that he had just gotten out of jail after his sixth DUI. It truly is an astounding disease. Alcohol twists our minds so much we can’t quite comprehend what it says in the Big Book, “We are like men who have lost their legs; they never grow new ones.”
My first summer sober, I remember being on the beach playing scrabble with another newcomer. We wanted to be like the other young girls in bikinis seemingly having fun drinking. The weather was steaming hot and I remember really wanting a cold beer. It didn’t even matter that I hated beer’s bloating bubbles and bad taste and that I didn’t drink it even when I was active. I kept telling myself it was just a another cold drink. It was the seduction of it that I had to deal with, and another old idea that I could drink like other people that had to be smashed. I bought a cold soda, played several resentful games of scrabble that day, and just put more time into the getting sober thing. I was not sure I wanted it, all I knew is that I would get it first and decide later if I wanted it or not. They told me I could go back to drinking any time I wanted to.
How do you stay sober in summer when it seems like everyone else is having fun drinking?
#1 You must first accept that we are bodily and mentally different from our fellows.
For us to drink is to die or go insane. I had a pretty easy time admitting this, but a hard time accepting it. I had to pray fervently on my knees every day to the God of my sponsors understanding for help accepting it, just for today.
#2 Never go to any event on an empty stomach. We get confused on body signals with cravings and huger.
#3 If possible, take your own car to all events so you can leave if you feel uncomfortable.
#4 When you go to the beach
Take a small cooler of your very own with water, drinks and snacks. Bring some for sharing so you don’t run out if there are moochers around!
#5 When you go to B-B-Qs
Bring your own preferred beverages and some sweets to the host/hostess as a gift. Leave a small cooler with your favorite beverages and snacks in your car in case you run out.
#6 When you go fishing or to a baseball game
See above.
#7 When you go on vacation, go to www.aa.org and get the list of meetings that are available in the city where you will be going. Use the telephone to call your sponsor at home or the local intergroup to tell them you are in town. Get a temporary sponsor if you are spending lots of time on holiday in one place.
#8 Have fun at fellowship events
Check your local Intergroup for fun events like “Bowling for Big Books” “Movie Night”
“Picnics,”
#9 Plan a Fellowship Vacation
There are plenty of conventions, round ups and conferences to attend. Get some pals and plan to go on a program vacation at one or more of these. Plan on going on a Gratitude Cruise in fellowship.
#10 Create your own events to look forward to
Have a fellowship BBQ, Pool Party, Breakfast Bike Ride, Scrabble Tournament, or Pictionary Party. Get involved on any fellowship committee that is planning something, especially any fundraiser for your local Intergroup. Become part of the solution of staying sober in the summer for others.
#11 Carry Support
Gratitude Boosters: Write on ten small pieces of paper things you are grateful for and keep them in your pocket. If you feel bad for a minute, take one out and read it. Also, carry a little Big Book so you can go to the rest room and read until the dark moment passes.
#12 Remember, God will meet you anywhere!
Snow@sobercelebrations.com
561-702-2312
Jun 9th.
You have to see this one! I downloaded it to my computer, then watched it with Media Windows Player. This guy tells the whole story! http://www.vacationquestinc.com/Best_DUI_ever.wm
Jun 8th.
They found a two million year old skull of a 9 year old boy recently. They say he is a new species and perhaps defines the moment when we transitioned from ape to man. While that is astonishing, we’ve been prepped with the dinosaur statistics for quite some time now. What’s hard to believe is that Alcoholics Anonymous came to us only seventy five years ago. While I was still a lost and broken child, Bill and Bob were having the communion of pain and miracle, eye to eye which gave birth to this worldwide phenomenon. It would seem that with all the wise, religious, and brilliant men and women that have existed for thousands of years, this simple program should have been around a lot sooner. It wasn’t here until the right broken people showed up to receive it and the Grace of God made it grow.
It took me a long time to find out that the International Convention happens only every five years, and a long time for my children to grow up so I could leave town and not miss the joy of them. I attended my first one five years ago. I saw how I was connected to something so much bigger than I ever knew. I saw that we have a divine responsibility to carry the message, that our love is so much greater than our differences, it’s breathtaking. It carries you another five years biding your time so you can see the global miracle again. You don’t have to practice principals over personalities, for a weekend, you become it.
The impact of 60,000 or so people grinning from ear to ear, swarming the streets in rivers of every size, shape, and age that God could think of, is overwhelming. The connectivity starts in your stomach, dances around your heart and shakes out your hand as you met one new friend after another in an elevator, at a hot dog stand or when you spot a familiar face in the crowd. Yet everywhere you are reminded it is a daily reprieve based on your spiritual condition. If you feel alone, it’s your obligation to reach out and get connected. If you see someone else looking lost, it’s your obligation to speak up. Only a fit spiritual condition allows you to do either without fear.
No, it’s not about you, but it’s all about you. Each single person makes the miracle live. As one brother or sister falls, another will take their place. It’s like ring around the rosy, we all hold hands, or we all fall down. As of last night, there are 49,500 people registered for this event July 1-4. I hope to see you in San Antonio when we will hold precious hands around the globe.
Snow@sobercelebrations.com
Jun 2nd.
New York, April 1, 2010 – Due to the downturn in the economy,
Alcoholics Anonymous will NO LONGER be dues and membership free as has been the case for almost 75 years.
Like many businesses, AA will now be charging for some things that used to be free, such as:
1. Being Rocketed into the 4th Dimension — $49.99 per trip, fuel
surcharge applies, extra baggage NOT included. 5th Dimension trips optional; additional fee applies. See your sponsor for details.
2. Sponsorship — was free, NOW $9.99 per month, with 4 visits/20 phone calls per month free, after that, $2.00 each. Surcharge for calls after midnight: $1.50 per call.
3. Membership Dues — now $29.99/month, 10% discount for a 1-year plan.
4. Seating charges — Each seat now $1.00 per meeting, with a 20% discount for the 90-in-90 plan.
5.Pink Cloud — was free, NOW $14.99 per cloud, with a $5.00 per event environmental cleanup fee. These are the NEW ozone-free Pink Clouds that do NOT add to global warming.
6. Coffee — $1.50 per cup, with a 10% discount for 5 or more cups.
7. Hugs — will now be $2.50 each.
8. Conscious Contact with God — now $9.99/month, with the first 450 minutes free, then 10 cents/minute over 450.. New Double your Minutes for Life plan is a low $49.99 one time charge. Holidays and weekends extra; see rate schedule, as God is VERY busy.
9. Accidental cell phone call during meeting — charge now set at
$25.00 per incident. Intentional calls: $75.00
10. I’ve been “Thinking” fees to now be $3.00 each, with a Relapse Reentry Fee of only $99.99 (each occurrence), if you’re lucky enough to make it back into the rooms. Fees will be used to purchase additional white chips.
Please note: void where prohibited by law.
AA reserves the right to change none, all, or some of these rates at anytime, with no notice to you. If you need a notice of change in rates, a written request may be sent to headquarters in New York. A $10.00 fee applies.
NOTE: The editor does not accept responsibility for your reaction to this article. If you have a problem with it, please consult your sponsor (normal charges apply).
Kinda makes you think twice about how lucky we are that they decided to have the 8th tradition and not professionalize AA. Imagine having to pay for a professional sponsor. We probably have the only disease whose cure has not been commercialized. Makes us special and lucky. But, it’s so easy to think that the cure isn’t worth it’s weight in gold because we don’t have to pay big bucks for it!!
Jun 2nd.
Our cruise ship Radiance of the Seas slips in between the mountains, glaciers and fish to dock us in a little port built up with rocks. The port is ready with a platform full of new helicopters. There is not even one doctor in this town and medical attention is a two hour flight away. Pregnant women are required to leave town two months prior to giving birth. It’s still a frontier town and charming to pieces.
I went to a farm where I did something I have wanted to do forever, I did glass blowing. I made a beautiful snow, blue magic feather and gilded paperweight which will be shipped to my home. Then we had a home made brunch from all the ingredients in the Jewel Farm garden. 33 staff live in the baracks there and grow their own food.
The air tingles with crisp promise of more northern adventure. Although the guides sait last ngiht that we wouldn’t probably site any whales, our group saw 5 Orcas and a humpback with a baby who did tricks for us. Although you can only see Mt. McKilyey 30% of the year, we saw it clearly the first day. Today we snuck into Icy Straight Point and the sun blazing on the streets is so unusal we know how truly blessed this trip is as it is rarely sunny this long. I stayed onboard and slept the morning away in elegant luxury. The internet and cell phone connections come and go. AT&T seems to be the only carrier that works in these remote areas. My phone is dead for sure!
We have our meeting at 5:00, formal dress tonight and our Private Coketail Party at 7:00. Life is that good!
