Matt Talbot

In my early days of sobriety I was cajoled (to use a euphemism) into attending a Matt Talbot Retreat.  My first sponsor was an enigmatic man who was so mercurial I never knew what side of the bed he got up on. He would be kind and soothing one day and unbending and abrasive the next. I used to call him my Nazi sponsor and I probably would get in trouble for using that severe a term for him but at times he was plenty awful. Although in his defense he kept me sober those critical first two years. And I attribute some of that success to my Matt Talbot Retreats. 

It has been 10 years since I have attended one and a good friend with virtually the same time sober had been suggesting albeit gently   the one in New Jersey he attends for quite a number of those 10 and finally I capitulated unto myself and will take up the experience again this weekend. I will be of course reporting back right here by Sunday.  

 I have to say that my move away from AA as a strict doctrine of getting and maintaining sobriety has had its own metamorphosis over the last three years because as I have chronicled here it is in effect an archaic standard based on what is available and understood about the human psyche in the 21st Century. I know it works for some but just like when I was taught falsely as a young schoolboy that Catholicism is the only religion, AA is not the only way to get sober. My caveat is that it is how I got sober but I will always be open to other protocols because they all have something to offer. As the fictional Charlie Chan said in The Wax Museum: Any powder that kills fleas is good powder.