Angry Joe

 The "F@#k you, Reuben" guy has been showing up at the Zoom meeting again.  I'm not exactly sure why.  The thing about this dude is that I kinda like him.  He's got a good sense of humor, usually at his own expense, and I can see that he's really working at his recovery.  He's had a problem with his temper from day one - his nickname was Angry Joe for the longest time - and like a lot of us he's often a child in a man's body.  So much of the behavior of new people is rife with immaturity.  We're just inappropriate.  I can see this guy yelling "F@#k you, dude" all the time on his job sites without any repercussions.  Sometimes it's okay and sometimes it's not okay - the trick is learning which is which.

Anyway, we read part of a story out of The Big Book.  One of the pitfalls with only reading part of a story is that you can get just the drinking part without getting to the quitting drinking part which, we all agree, is the important part.  A hazard of this partial reading style is that for many of us our drinking was fun and relatively consequence free at the start.  I find myself romancing the fun of drinking sometimes while glossing over the misery of drinking.

Because I didn't have anything to say about the reading - and I always have something to say - I got called on to share first.  I blathered and dithered about nothing of consequence and passed the mic onto the next person.  And because I didn't have time to prepare some canned, pre-planned remarks that everyone has heard many times several people commented on something I said.  Funny how that works, too - speak from the head and you got bupkus and speak from the heart and you reach people.

So Angry shared as well and he mentioned something that I had said.  After the meeting I texted him to congratulate him on what was really a good share.  One of the funny consequences of Zoom meetings is that, deprived of the feedback that comedians crave, the comedians are less jokey and their sharing becomes more heartfelt and more  . . . . adult.  Anyway, because I don't want ANY RESENTMENTS in my life I figure as a Long Timer I could at least make the first move and I did this with no expectation of no anything.  It's my action for me.  The response is not important.

Angry's text is: "Thank you.  And I'm glad I have your number now."  

Funny, that.