An Out-of-Towner Shares Her Experience of the 2007 Birthday Party

I'm a relative newcomer to OA. I've been in and out of the rooms of OA here in Knoxville, Tennessee for several years and never did understand why OA was different than a diet. But I have been in AA for several years and have benefited from the gifts of spiritual, physical and emotional recovery. I have a sponsor, have sponsored others, and regularly give service at my AA meetings. In fact, nearly all my friends are in recovery. But as I worked my AA program, it became more and more apparent that alcohol was not the only substance I was abusing. Food – eating too much of it, and eating it all the time – was becoming more of a problem than ever. My petite 5 foot 2 inch, 105 pound AA sponsor was willing to help but really couldn't identify with this issue of mine.

One night, as I was searching the internet, I found the LA Intergroup website and its online Speakers Bureau, and I started listening to speakers on my iPod whenever I had a chance. I soon realized that the recovery message was the same in OA as it was in AA. But in these speakers' stories, I was hearing about years and years of physical, emotional and spiritual recovery. I wasn't hearing that message at my home meetings. But – I still didn't understand abstinence, food plans etc. And for whatever reason, I wasn't asking enough questions in my home meeting to get the answers I needed. 

Each time I went to the LA Intergroup website, I saw promotional information about the Birthday Party. Then, when the agenda was on the website, I saw that there was a workshop planned called "The ABC's of Abstinence." I knew that this was something that could really answer my questions. Then, when I saw that there was a workshop in the afternoon on the same day about "Working the 12 Steps for Any Problem," I was sold! I made my reservation online to attend. In the meantime, I was back to attending my Saturday morning OA meeting more regularly. I told them I was going to the Birthday Party in Los Angeles and would bring back whatever I could to share with the group. 

God somehow made it all possible for me because I was able to find a $150 airfare that got me out to LA and back. I managed to take time off of work without missing anything important. When I walked into the hotel, I ran into some other OA's. I introduced myself, and it turns out that one of them was one of the speakers I’d listened to from the website. We chatted then and also later in the weekend. She shared her experience, strength and hope with me, telling me about the conferences and retreats she participates in and about how she works her program on a day to day basis. 

My Birthday Party experience was everything I had hoped it would be. After attending “The ABC's of Abstinence,” I now have a great understanding of abstinence, food plans and the difference between the two. I've talked to the workshop leader about how to carry the message of that workshop out here to Tennessee and am talking with my Intergroup now about bringing “The ABC's of Abstinence Workshop” here. I also participated in the "Working the 12 Steps for Any Problem" workshop in the afternoon and loved the simplicity it taught. Now if I can only remember to what I learned on a daily basis! 

In-between the workshops, I attended as many of the panel discussions as I could…and I wasn't disappointed with anything. I purchased the CD's for those I wasn't able to hear and have been listening to them ever since. I chatted with people at lunch and dinner who were from all parts of California, and they shared their stories with me about abstinence, food plans, and their own recovery.

For me, attending the 2007 Birthday Party was a huge boost to my recovery, and I think it will help carry the message to more suffering compulsive overeaters here in Tennessee. Thank you, LA Intergroup, for putting the Birthday Party together and for having the Speakers Bureau on the website. As it turns out, I'm now helping to put together a program in April that will be a mini-workshop called "An Extra Helping of Recovery." Thanks to those of you who carried the message to me at the OA Birthday Party, I now have an "extra helping" of recovery to share with other compulsive overeaters here in Tennessee. It sure seems like a Higher Power is at work here! I'll see "y'all" next year! 

-- Kathy T. from Tennessee