Creeks, History, Family and Cars

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After leaving Tulsa on Tuesday the 26th, we headed to Richland, Missouri. These water babies had been on the dirty and dusty trails for too long. Much to our surprise and delight, we found our first body of water to swim in. We couldn't jump in fast enough and Maggie had a great time swimming around too!

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Off to Akron, Ohio, the birthplace of Alcoholics Anonymous. Now, this wasn't a lifetime goal of mine, for when I was little my Barbie didn't come with a Big Book of AA and a divorce attorney. However the past 34 years since I begun this sober journey, I've always wanted to visit. Here, we're in the living room of Dr. Bob & Anne Smith's home.

Imagine if you will, it's pre-1935 and your beloved family member is suffering from alcoholism. If they haven't gotten into any trouble with the law, they will be institutionalized in an insane asylum. If they've broken the law, they will be humiliated with a public hanging.

Around that time, the Oxford group of religious folks had some alcoholics in their mix. They created a program for them to follow, in hopes of helping them get sober. Their approach was all about preaching and recruiting, which you can imagine wasn't going over so well.

However, when Ebby went to see his college buddy, Bill W in NYC, to tell him how he's been sober now, this was the small seed that started AA. Bill W was able to stay sober from December 1934 to May 1935 while trying to recruit other alcoholics to his new found way of being sober.

The part of this that worked then and has been everlasting, is that Bill W learned that alcoholics have a physical allergy with a mental obsession. Once they begin drinking, all bets are off as to how long this spree will go. Even if it's not a long one, as soon as they are not drinking again, it's all their minds will think about. Yet, being on a mission to save the masses, only caused fellow alcoholics to run from Bill W.

In June of 1935, Bill W traveled to Akron, Ohio for business. He and his partners were there to sign a contract for a big deal in the rubber industry. When it fell through, all of his partners left for NYC and asked Bill W to stay behind in Akron so that if it did fall through, he would be there to scoop up the contract.

This left Bill W feeling depressed, out of sorts and wanting a drink. He went downstairs to the hotel lobby to look up the guests that had registered as being part of the Oxford group. He knew he just needed to find a fellow alcoholic who was still suffering and that would keep Bill W sober!

He went through almost the entire list, only to strike out. People weren't home or didn't know anyone that fit his search. The last person on the list was Henrietta Seiberling, who had married into the Goodyear family and lived in that huge mansion across town.

Bill W summoned up all of his nerve and telephoned Henrietta. She answered and was delighted to hear about his quest. For you see, her dear friend was Anne Smith and the two women had been praying for a solution for Dr Bob's drinking.

They arranged for Bill W and Dr Bob to meet in the gate house of the Seiberling's mansion. Side story - It was a modest dwelling that Henrietta had been living in with her three children, due to a separation from her husband. He remained in the sprawling mansion. They lived out their days this way. Once we also toured the mansion, we were dumbfounded at the inequity of this split. However, that is neither here nor there, the story is about Bill W and Dr Bob.

Dr Bob was hung over and did not want to meet Bill W. In an attempt to appease the ladies, he said he would talk to him for 15 minutes. Hours later, the two men had created a unique bond that can only be formed when two alcoholics share their experience, strength and hope. And so they set off on the journey of creating and shaping AA, as we know it today. This was June of 1935.

Dr Bob and Anne took Bill W in for the summer of 1935. Dr Bob had one relapse early on and came home in bad shape. After sleeping it off the best he could, Bill W and Anne tried to assess if Dr Bob would be fit to perform his upcoming surgery. The morning of this surgery, Dr Bob was still quite shaky. Ironically Bill W gave Dr Bob his last drink. Two beers and a sedative, to calm his nerves so he could tend to his patient in the OR. Since then, the two men stayed sober until their deaths (Dr. Bob in 1950 and Bill W in 1971).

Fall of 1935, Bill W went home to NYC and the two men continued to work on how to best share AA with their communities and beyond. They decided writing a book, now affectionately called 'The Big Book', to keep consistency with how it works as the program of AA grows from Akron, to Cleveland, NYC and beyond. Today, AA is found in over 180 countries world wide.

To put my gratitude into words escapes me. It changed everything in my life and has allowed me to return to my true essence. It will be a lifelong journey to continue to grow, evolve and help others along the way. And for that I am eternally grateful.

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With a heart full of gratitude we continue heading East to stay with our cousins, Alex & Marilyn Sanchioli. If you've ever had a homemade meal from Alex, you are probably drooling by now. Homemade pasta, sauce & meatballs! He co-ran the family bakery for decades. Carl and Debbie joined us for a night of delicious food & laughter. Joyfulness is their family code.

Carl and Debbie took us touring the next day and for some much needed errands.

My highlight was when we visited

Randy-Land, which was a colorful place for art and expression galore.

Of course, I felt very at home here and loved the playfulness that Randy has created in his Land.

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We had fun sharing our love of cars.

Alex has a killer 1984 Corvette that makes your head fly back in the seat as he guns it around the corners. It was so much fun riding around town with him.

I had taken Alex & Derek for a beach cruise in my '65 VW Van when they were in San Diego. It was new to me & it kept popping out of first, on the winding hills of La Jolla. Not the same, but both were fun in their own ways!

Meanwhile, Doug took Debbie & then Alex for spins around the block in our 1965 356sc Cab Porsche.

The look on Alex's face says it all!

Thanks for being part of our journey. We are off to have dinner with more Sanchioli cousins, Ellen and Michael.

Have a beautiful week and we look forward to more fun to share next Monday.

Shari 'n' Doug

XO