Back in the saddle...?

(I got the attached image to an email subject "the real source of the swine flu" - sorry, I normally don't propagate such pictures and I also realize that we are now desperately trying to call it something other than the swine flu - but, I loved the picture... - I could have seen several of our kids/grandkids at this age trying to give the porker some tounge...)

MY plan last week had been to post at least daily as I wandered around Manhattan - doing meetings, hanging with some new people, visiting sites, etc. Didn't work out that way. I'm pretty sure no one cares (but me) but it was interesting to observe both my recovery and disease at work this past week.

A little bit of history: I saw something written that I can paraphrase that explains the curious feelings I have about being in New York City "...I was fully prepared to hate everything about New York but it just didn't work out that way..."

I love Times Square, MoMA, every little thing and big thing from Central Park to the Churches to Greenwich Village to the food to Brooklyn to Chinatown to the Subways to the people (most of them) to the Apple Store on 5th Avenue... I can't think of much that I don't like in the short times I'm there. I never again want to live there (I did briefly in a former life) but I would go way out of my way to visit or show up for something in the city.

New York is not special in this regard: I have a similar reaction to Las Vegas - seems like it would be so much more cool if I could just hate it but... What's really weird (and, I think, the purpose of this article) is that loving these urban experiences really has little to do with who and what I am - how I think of myself as a nature-loving mountain dude who's trying to learn to understand and use the principles of AA in the whole of my life.

...oh, maybe that's it...

I discovered that when the principles and values I hold as important guide me in what I do, I can have a great day anywhere on the planet. I can appreciate great AA talks or look for ways to be useful in AA meetings that seem to have gone adrift. When, instead, I yield to my ego and selfish priorities, I can be sitting in paradise and find nothing but fault as far as any horizon.

So, maybe that's part of this week's lesson - my plans are way less important than being available to learn and grow from whatever life presents me. To some extent, I was and am willing to learn. We'll be chatting more about that some - maybe...

BTW - I was suprised that in the time I was in the city (Sunday-Saturday last week), I saw probably less than 1 person in ~5,000 with a face mask on. I think that's about the same ratio I saw when I was there last ~6 years ago so. While some of the country is freaked about this flu, it's not a major concern there yet. I'm still wondering if it should be?

Ed