Going to Any Lengths (literally!)

The Beach Happening on September 18, 2010 in Seaview/Long Beach, WA was absolutely just what I needed. I had asked several OA members from Alaska and Colorado to meet me there but everyone said it was a good idea but just not possible at that time. When I initially checked on the location I thought Seaview was a suburb of Seattle and mapquest directions stated it was a seventeen minute drive from a friend’s place in downtown Seattle. Well my HP has one heck of a delightful sense of humor. Seaview is actually a town on the Pacific Coast almost to Oregon from Seattle. I almost bailed on the idea when I discovered that little fact. Anyway, God kept prompting me to just “Trust and Go”. I am so grateful I was willing to abide by those intuitive thoughts. I got the best blessing in a long time in OA. Well not so long ago just since June when I attended the Retreat in Wasilla for the second time.

I rented a car in Seattle and drove four and one-half hours via a scenic route which included driving thru Olympia with the fall leaves at their peak. Yay, God. I contacted the organizers of the workshop and they helped me locate a place to stay and they invited me to join them on Friday evening after they set up for the Saturday workshop. It was just wonderful to eat a meal in a nice restaurant with other OA people. I joined several people for breakfast before the workshop started and then listened to several wonderful speakers. It was great to hear our common solution reiterated in all the stories. There were baskets to raffle, games to play, literature to purchase and friendships to cultivate. The attendees were from Washington and Oregon and even California. I enjoyed an abstinent lunch with another OA person who lives far from OA meetings. We intended to eat at a Thai Restaurant and no one else was interested in that ethnic food saying the noodles could be a problem as a trigger food. When we arrived at the restaurant it was literally burning to the ground. No one appeared hurt so we joked that perhaps our HP decided we didn’t need to eat noodles either. We then headed to a seafood restaurant and avoided any trigger foods.

Since I had tickets to a Dierks Bentley concert to benefit Seattle’s Children’s Hospital at the Puyallup State Fair, I did not stay for the entire day of speakers but I know my HP had me there for the parts He intended. I was able to make contact with people and now have many OA buddies to share recovery online. The organizers are already making plans for the Second Annual Beach Happening in 2011. Take it from me—trust your HP and go if at all possible. “Going to any lengths” for recovery has a whole new meaning for me.

Respectfully submitted,

Wanda (from Kotzebue, Alaska)