AA Afloat

May 2, 2010

Today is day two. We came to Pt Townsend from Seattle yesterday. It turned out to be a nice trip. No rain, sunshine beginning to peak out by mid trip and lovely though windy in PT. The thing that struck me was how this seemed like a short uneventful trip but not too long ago sailing to PT was a big deal. Now we just saw it as a short hop and a chance to rest from all the preparations and excitement.
The day started early when family and friends came to our home slip at Shilshole Bay Marina for an emotional good bye, Throwing off the lines as everyone waved and snapped pictures felt like a day that must belong to someone else.
The highlight of my day was when I opened some mail that had arrived for me at Moms house just the day before. It was my packet of introduction from LIM (Loners internationalists Meeting.) I had learned about Loners from my sponsor when she told me she had been a member while she was in Korea several years ago. I had never even heard of LIM.
I tried to sign up in preparation for our departure but it took a little to find my place in what I hope will be a cornerstone of my AA at sea. When I first signed up I ended up on the LIM email group. Which would be great for most people but from day one I recieved dozens of emails each day. Sounds great right? All those conntacts! But what it really did was fill my inbox in no time. Unfortunatly first, I will have sporadic access to my email in ports of size that may or may not have WIFI. The email we have for at sea is a great tool but we pay for it by the byte which means opening an email with days or even weeks of daily posts just wouldnt work for us.
After some correspondence I found my own glass slipper in the realm of LIM. Turns out that they have a print version that is mailed every other month. This is actualy the way LIM got started. Good old snail mail. Most of the LIM activity today it seems takes place by email but there is a small group still writing through GSO.
The news letters will be sent to mom who will send them on to me whenever we know of a specific destination and a mail drop that she can forward them to. It wont be fast or terriby efficient but it is do-able.
The small packet I recieved included a letter of introduction from the LIM coordinator, a box 459 newsletter from GSO, a confidential "2009 Loners-Internationalists & Homers Directory and a Jan/Feb AND a March/April LIM newsletter "An AA meeting for loners, internationalists and other AA's who cannot attend regular AA meetings."
The three folded pages included our Preamble followed by notes and letters written by 24+ members of our fellowship, a "sad to report" listing of LIM AA's who have passed on, a list of who participated in the meeting and their emails or addresses, a list of new loners, new homers and new internationalists and a list of port contacts. I was so excited by the meeting in print "Just for ME!" that i had to force myself to leave one of the two editions for another day. I can only inagine that I will be opening furute packages from my mom with great anticipation.
Inside the packet was the directory which lists confidential contact info for Loners, Internationalists and Homers in the US, in Canada and around the world. Plus Port contacts in both the US and abroad. There were contacts in 25 states and 26 countries. A listing of phone meetings and online meetings were included.
My "real" meetings will be few and far between but there is a solution. I already wrote a letter of introduction to LIM for inclusion in a future newsletter! Wrote it yesterday, still underway!Between my home contacts, LIM, meetings I find along the way and my AA flag well, the possibilities are endless. Aint Life Grand?

Thanks for being a part of my AA afloat and I look forward to the next time we can talk. Kat R. Seattle,Wa