Well, last evening was the first pack meeting we have been to since my son decided to become a Cub Scout. All the other Scouts "graduated" to their next level of scouting and received badges, etc. The new Tiger Cubs (my son's group) were welcomed to the pack. They had told us at the first organizational meeting that they were hoping for some parents to volunteer and help out with the den. So, I filled out my application for "adult scout volunteer" and turned it in, thinking how much fun it will be to help Ian enjoy his scouting experience... I left the pack meeting last nite as "the guy" with "the box" of den materials/leader manual. I think I have been "elected" the Den Leader by default or something. I am not sure what happened lol. I have been pledged support by the other dads who didn't want the box, or to be "the guy." I think this will be a good thing, lol. I am pretty excited about helping out, just a little nervous about how good a job I can do. Time will tell, let's go for it! lol The kool thing is, this bit of volunteering is something I can do with Ian, it benefits kids and I don't need to get "permission" from my wife, like I might need to if I were to say oooohhh... join a golf league or something. Well, I won't have to worry about finding time to golf this summer lol.
We had another class with Oprah and Eckhardt Tolle last evening online. We went further into discovering our inner purpose in life. Again, very fascinating, eye opening stuff. Alot of the principles in the book are the same ones we use in recovery, especially the bit about being in exactly this moment only. Living a day, a moment at a time. There are literally dozens of times throughout the book where he quotes the Bible and the teachings of Christ. It's really interesting how it all weaves together nicely, and makes sense. I know it all comes off a bit "new-agey" and trendy and what not. but all the principles are age-old principles found in most religious teachings and like AA, there's no "labelling" of what to call everything. So really I've found it to be quite "relate-able" to my faith, and practice of the Steps of AA. There was this e-mail Oprah read last evening from a practicing Catholic gal in California, where she related the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) to the teachings in the book, and how her faith in the Church had become much more alive, and had grown as a result of participating in this class. I about fell out of my seat as this has been the same experience for me. If I can find the e-mail from the webcast last nite, I may post it. It's so well written, and much better than I could express all this, in my infancy here with the whole thing.
Anyhow, that's all the news that's fit to print... Well, we did have an excellent jail meeting Sat, I neglected to mention that. It was just me and two inmates. One guy knew what he needed to do, but was in a bit of a wierd palce, having all the details and having had some sobriety, yet finding himself bewildered about being in jail again on another drunk driving charge, that "really wasn't his fault..." The other guy was quiet until I asked him if he had anything to share, and he replied "well, I am really just kind of listening right now..." and proceeded to run down his drinking history for us and really sort of sat there and convinced himself that maybe he needed to get it together after all. It was sort or a minor epiphany for him, and was nice to watch and participate in. Sometimes, we have to have a wee bit of encouragement, but once we begin to hear ourselves share our details in the context of other people's details, the lights really come on. It was really exciting to see it happen for this guy. Let's hope the lights stay on.
peace be with you all!
