NA
I do have common bonds with my closest friends, but it’s the things they do outside my world that interests me the most.
For instance, my friend Kelly has a lizard with it’s own room. I find that fascinating. I had one is third grade. Poor thing at worms and lived in a box.
My friend Stuart and I love flea markets, but we head in different directions when we arrive at one. We went to one last weekend, both in search of cheap and tacky. But we arrived at it in entirely different ways. (I’m sure I’ll tell you more about that late. Just know that I named to ceramic squirrels Nutsy and Pebbles. Clearly a bargain at only a dollar each.)
But it was a message from a friend that sent me off in search of his passion.
The search led me to the Narcotics Anonymous website in search of information.
My friend had taken a public stance about drinking and what NA say about it. And as someone ten years clean, I knew that he would know.
I remember like it was yesterday the first time he told me about it all. I remember being in awe, asking him how he maintained his sobriety. The answer was as clear as you can get.
“Because I do what they tell me to do.”
Nothing more and certainly nothing less.
And according to the website: “In Narcotics Anonymous, members are encouraged to comply with complete abstinence from all drugs including alcohol. It has been the experience of NA members that complete and continuous abstinence provides the best foundation for recovery and personal growth.”
And then y’all know I perused the entire site while I was there. I wanted to learn more about it, but I also wanted to bring something here.
So here is something else I found: “NA is a nonprofit fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem. We meet regularly to help each other stay clean. … We are not interested in what or how much you used … but only in what you want to do about your problem and how we can help.”
In the end, we’re really on the same team, because in Adina terms that means: I am not interested in what or how much you ate or what you didn’t do in the gym…buy only in what you want to do about your problem and how can I help you.
And as far as my friend….sometimes what seems so different is really the bond in disguise.
And isn’t that neat!?
