In Al Anon, someone who is also in AA can't be group representative.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

12. Rhiannon, thanks again.

I'll never make it to Bill and Lois' house, but years ago on a field service job up north, I was going past Akron on the way home and visited Dr. Bob's house. I rarely have good luck at anything, but that day I did. There was only me and the caretaker, a member of course. He gave me the grand tour and we even sat down at Dr. Bob's kitchen table and had coffee. He had some great tales to spin on Dr. Bob's drinking shenanigans, too. Never forget that as long as I live!

I've attended several meetings where most attendants were court ordered and those can get messy. I've always had suspicions about the wisdom of court-ordered AA meetings because it violates our concept of "desire", rather than force. Seems to me that strong suggestion would do fine, so if they truly want to stop drinking, they know where we are. It also can get difficult to get enough reliable AA members to attend and keep thing in order and based only on the Program.

I always enjoyed 12 and 12 meetings and believe going through the Traditions is vital for maintaining an interest in service work. Otherwise, how are people going to learn about the structure of AA, and how important (and rewarding) service work is? In a 12 and 12 meeting group, you can say, only have a tradition topic once a month to make sure the Steps are always adequately covered. It's also good to drag another member (or two) to the district and regional meetings! We also have quarterly city business meetings for Louisville's Intergroup. The Louisville area has over 300 meetings each week (Louisville metro and southern Indiana metro), and we have a one-person central office downtown that serves as an AA hotline answering service. They also sell AA and Alanon literature. So, there's plenty of service opportunities here. It's just that people have gotten lazy and don't seem to have much sense of duty these days.

Being the ultimately curious type, I went through about 5-years of exploration to find my spirituality - conceptually and in practice. Actually, it's still a work in progress 22 years later, LOL. That's a good topic for another day.

Have a great Sunday!

PS: May I PM you with a news link?