Oh holy shit, I just remembered one of the most awkward and hilarious (not for me at the time, but in retrospect, it's great) things that has ever happened to me in my own sobriety journey.
So, this happened about three years into my sobriety. I'd been doing pretty well, was rebuilding my life, repairing relationships, and trying to steadily improve things. I was going to the occasional meeting, but didn't keep to any sort of schedule, it was more just to see how the other people I knew there were doing and enjoy the sense of community. At this time, I was under a decent amount of stress (can't remember what exactly was causing it, probably just work, bills, the usual(, and had had a few recent moments where the monkey was telling me "Man, a drink would be really nice right now, you know how dangerous it would be to have more than one, so surely you could manage just the one, right?", and decided that I could use a meeting, and some people to talk to.
One of the things that was probably causing a good portion of the stress that I was under was almost certainly the season. I've always had pretty bad allergies, and at the time, the pollen index was just fucking awful. Every single day, my eyes would be watery and red, I'd have the sniffles from my nose running, and that was IF I'd remembered to take my allergy meds. There were a number of days during this particular season that I just ended up taking benadryl and going to bed early because of just how bad my allergies would get.
So the day I decide that I could use a meeting was a pretty bad one allergy wise. Runny nose, sniffing/snorting every minute or two, eyes watering, just fucking awful. But, I had shit to do that day, so I found a meeting nearby and went to it. Google was a little bit vague, but I find the place, and get in there.
I get myself the customary cup of coffee from the area outside, and go into the meeting room, and it's fucking huge, and mostly full. There are rows and rows of folding chairs, probably a good bit over a hundred, and most of them are full. I find myself a seat near the back that wasn't taken and sit down. I make some small talk with the people around me, and just look around. There are people from all walks of life in there, and it makes me genuinely happy. Happy that there's a place for these people to come and have other people to support them. Whole time, my allergies are still just as bad, though I'm trying to keep the sniffling and snorting to a minimum.
All of my happiness and sense of community go right out the window the moment the meeting starts though, as some guy goes up to the podium, the light chatter in the room dies down, and as the room goes completely quiet, he says "Thank you all for coming to this meeting of Cocaine Anonymous.".
It instantly hits me then, that I am in the middle of a CA meeting, not an AA meeting, and while I know that my sniffling/snorting, twitchy, distracted behavior is because my allergies are killing me, to everyone else, it probably sounds like I just did a line in the bathroom before this meeting and am dealing with coke drip.
I am very much a sperg, and tend to overthink things. So, a lot of things go through my head, and I come to a series of conclusions. I need to get the fuck out of here ASAP. But, I can't just get up and leave immediately, because that would be weird and awkward. So, for the next twenty minutes or so, I just fucking sit there, making sure not to sniffle or snort. My allergies are killing me, I've got shit running down my throat that I can't clear, and I am aware of every single awkward motion I am making. After about twenty minutes, I look at the people sitting next to me, gesture at my empty coffee cup, get up and head back towards the coffee machine in the room outside, and then get the fuck out.
Fucking hilarious looking back, but it was twenty minutes of pure fucking hell at the time.
![DSM5 Extract[507-511] conv 1.webp](http://uploads.kiwifarms.st/data/attachments/7422/7422376-bff23000afeec8d5666d84007f863180.jpg?hash=f9GgXHq4gv "DSM5 Extract[507-511] conv 1.webp")
![DSM5 Extract[507-511] conv 2.webp](http://uploads.kiwifarms.st/data/attachments/7422/7422377-52d5ed2d4a4553685827b6d1beb42196.jpg?hash=Fr3ugvGejE "DSM5 Extract[507-511] conv 2.webp")
![DSM5 Extract[507-511] conv 3.webp](http://uploads.kiwifarms.st/data/attachments/7422/7422378-7dbd35dadb6424f29db135c2f4222b71.jpg?hash=HHPxaLIgIt "DSM5 Extract[507-511] conv 3.webp")
![DSM5 Extract[507-511] conv 4.webp](http://uploads.kiwifarms.st/data/attachments/7422/7422379-8e496673f23722ead19ec076b1d8767e.jpg?hash=_RUKPbOCTb "DSM5 Extract[507-511] conv 4.webp")
![DSM5 Extract[507-511] conv 5.webp](http://uploads.kiwifarms.st/data/attachments/7422/7422380-2224dda9db596010fe39aaecebff8039.jpg?hash=dg4xaHC-6_ "DSM5 Extract[507-511] conv 5.webp")
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