This past weekend, Liz and I traveled to Cleveland, Ohio to attend the annual East Central Region Conference of Delegates, past and present. I am the present panel 57, Area 75, Southern Wisconsin delegate.
We flew out of Milwaukee on Midwest Connect on Friday of last week. I was pretty nervous about it and didn't sleep well the night before. We had to get up at 4 a.m. because our flight left at 7:35 a.m. We arrived in Cleveland, took a shuttle about 5 miles to the car rental place (it's not at the airport in Cleveland), rented a van (we traveled with two past-delegates and our Area 75 Alternate delegate, Stu E.) and then found the hotel. We ate lunch at the hotel and then set out to Akron, Ohio, the place where Bill W. met Dr. Bob and AA was founded.
This first picture is of a stained glass window at the Akron Central Office of AA which depicts Bill and Bob talking to the "man on the bed", Bill D. who became AA #3.
After we went to the Central office where they had quite a bit of archival material which we looked over, we went to Dr. Bob's house in Ardmore Avenue. From the street, there are 12 steps into the front door.
We saw the bedroom on the second floor where new prospects where taken to kneel beside the bed and take the Third Step Prayer and I sat at the kitchen table where Bill and Bob sat and had coffee.
We toured the house next door to Dr. Bob's which the foundation now owns and maintains as a place to store additional archival material reflective of the history of AA.
Next we traveled to the gatehouse of the huge estate owned by the Sieberling family where Henrietta Sieberling first got Bill W. and Dr. Bob together. The facility wasn't open yet (April 1) but we got to see the house from the outside.
Finally, we visited Dr. Bob Smith's grave.
The conference opened at 8 p.m. Friday night and I got to give my 2 minute "Area Highlights" presentation. I read it well and didn't go over the two minutes or I would have gotten "dinged" by the bell.
One of the purposes of this conference is to prepare new delegates like myself for our first AA General Service Conference. Our mock committee meeting lasted until 12:15 a.m.
Saturday was a long day. We started with breakfast with the Regional Trustee at 7:30 a.m. and had no more than several 10 minute breaks until 4:30 in the afternoon. I had to take lots of strolls to the back of the room to stretch my legs as well as drink plenty of coffee to keep awake.
Dinner was at 6:30 and you can bet that I took a nap during our two hour interval. The main speaker after the dinner was Rick Walker, a staff member at the General Service office in New York. He gave a very interesting talk and then Liz and I skipped the ice cream social and headed up to bed.
Sunday morning the Conference started at 9 a.m. with a "mock conference" during which we debated the "recommendation" that had come out of committee on Friday night. A good time was had by all as the experienced delegates and past delegates "played it to the hilt". My motion not to consider a floor action that was proposed by a past delegate passed by a 2/3 vote and the mock conference ended at about 10 a.m. There were many lingering goodbyes as old friends once again went their separate ways.
We got to the airport well before our flight but managed to stay busy by reading. Our flight back to Milwaukee landed at about 3:30 p.m. and we were home by about 5.
Perhaps my most memorable moments of the Conference were when Dorothy Wilson, a little grey-haired lady from Indianapolis, IN, one of our AA trustees at large, shared how she had traveled to Russia, Central America and many other places to help carry the message of AA to countries who are struggling to get AA established. It was very moving to hear a person who risked her own welfare to carry our wonderful message to those who so badly want it and need it. Of particular interest was her description of the sexual harassment that goes on even within our fellowship in Great Britain and many other parts of the world. It's amazing to hear how poorly women are treated even in a program like ours that stresses spiritual values.
I guess this was the first time that I have ever flown out of town for just a weekend. It all went by pretty fast although the anxiety Thursday night and the long day Saturday were not the most pleasant.
That's all for now. Once again, it's bedtime.
Ciao, babies!!
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