22 Dreams

enjoying a bevvy Awakening to the ‘good’ in our lives and to the fulfilling sense of gratitude which follows often comes to us via the most simple and sometimes indirect means.  I’ve found myself catalysing these freeing thoughts and sensations by attending Al-Anon meetings, which is a worldwide support group for friends and relatives of alcoholics.  Al-Anon delivers a platform for attendees to listen and to speak with candour and honesty in a confidential setting with like-minded persons. I’ve been to three Al-Anon meetings thus far over three consecutive weeknights.  There’s a church up at Randwick that hosts both AA (alcoholics anonymous) and Al-Anon meetings on Thursday nights.  My partner is in both AA and A-Anon.  We figured that I might give Al-Anon a go – given I’m a blue ribbon qualifier - while she can choose between attending either AA or Al-Anon depending on her own needs at the time.  She came with me to my first two Al-Anon m...

My parents were like the furniture. I recall this quote from an interview with Bruce Springsteen that I must have read some 20 years ago.  This quote sure has stuck with me.  My parents were like the furniture.  Springsteen had a point, and perhaps a universal one.  Basically, in a nutshell, the olds would sit in front of the teevee, not saying a word, and i'd sit there too, in front of the teevee in that gloomy front room, numb and silent.  Sometimes mum would cover my eyes if boobies or bums came on the screen (this was the seventies??!)  This ghastly situation remained like this for a number of years, from about the age of 7 to 12, where i'd be the mute, restless and anxious boy silently and subconsciously wondering what the fuck was going on. Mum was inherently sweet, yet she was negative and anxiously caring, communicating silently through narcy vibes.  Dad was chipper when he got home from his daily dose of hard-yards at the St Peters br...