A Shaky Newcomer Feels the Chill

I have a little over thirty days in the program and I'm sampling a lot of meetings. Until last night, all had been very welcoming, which is good because I haven't gotten my sea legs yet. But last night I went to a new meeting where no one said a word to me. There were a lot of inside jokes being swapped, a lot of allusions to old stories, and a lot of laughs. All good if you're in on the meeting, but it made me feel as if I were in the wrong room. If that had been my first AA meeting, it might have been my last! I felt invisible. It taught me to look for people I don't recognize and go over and welcome them. One may be a shaky newcomer in need.