Meeting Attendance

I plan to attend two AA meetings this week to try to see what the differences are related to the specific group. I am curious as to whether meetings are consistent or whether there are significant variations. One meeting is an Open - Discussion meeting which is held tomorrow evening. The other meetings I am considering are one at the Market Street Mission in Morristown or a meeting at a church in Bernardsville. Both are relatively close to where I live. I think it would be interesting to attend the Market Street Mission meeting since this is an organization to which I have donated for years. The Mission does wonderful work with populations which include the homeless, addicts and the mentally ill. I believe the work done by the Mission truly helps many men to put their lives back together. I just don't want those involved in the meetings to feel I am a voyeur who is observing them and that is my concern. I suspect those who attend the meetings on a regular basis will be more comfortable with my attendance than I will be. I have a couple of days to decide and will let you know which meetings I attend and what I learned.

I have a family member for whom AA has been a lifesaver. This family member suffered through years of issues of drug and alcohol addiction. I have offered to attend meetings, but this was never accepted. I hope that attending and discussing my attendance will help to support this person, whom I dearly love. I am thinking as I write that I should have attended AlAnon years ago. It is not too late for me to learn more and I value this assignment.