So much to say ...

and even this somewhat anonymous blog isn't the place to say it.

I have opinions that are probably not politically correct. To get the heaviness off my chest, I will just say I'm really glad it's September 12th. There, I feel better already.

I have sad personal news that I will never share here. If I haven't met you in person, you don't need to know. No, I'm not ill and I'm not getting divorced. I would definitely share that here.

The weekend retreat we went to in Kentucky (an AA event) was great. Good speakers, lots of fellowship, too much food. The planners make sure we're not meetinged to death; there's a lot of free time built into the schedule. And since it's early in the college football season, we have a tailgate party and watch a game or two.

A large group of Ohio State Buckeye fans always arrive from Columbus, Ohio, but the OSU game wasn't televised. Thanks to modern technology, one of the group was able to find an animated play-by-play that he projected onto the wall. We called it Pacman football.

I found the WVU-Norfolk St. game on ESPN3.com and a few of us watched it on the MacBook Air's 11-inch screen. The Marshall game wasn't televised locally, so we depended on online sources to update those scores.

Sooooo many people were kind enough to remember why we weren't there last year and to share their own stories of losing a loved one.

I matter-of-factly got up each morning and walked/jogged three miles. In previous years I've gotten up very early to run seven miles as part of a training plan for a half-marathon. Those were better days; I was thinner, fitter, more motivated. This year, three was enough. I walked alone, lost in thought and wrapped in the early morning Kentucky fog.

I felt good about the walks, like maybe this was the start of a new habit. I plan to walk again today. If there's anything I've learned in AA over the past 20+ years, it's that today is all I have, really. I try to plan the plans, but not the results. Today's walk will be harder than yesterday's; the hills of home are steeper and more plentiful than the two I had to ascend/descend in Kentucky. But it's not like I haven't done them before and lived to tell about it.

As y'all well know!