I live in a city, with 1 million inhabitants, there are only 2 Al-anon meetings here, when I went to one I did know someone, someone I worked with [casually, she volunters to work for my boss] I didn't know her very well and in fact found her immensley challenging, I'm sure the feeling was mutual.
She never broke my confidentiality as far as I am aware, I never broke hers, after all we were both there for the same reason. We never spoke directly inside the meeting or outside, but I sensed a shift in compassion in both of our dealings with each other. I have a respect for her now that I didn't have before.
and the others were just lovely too. Warm and accepting, some mad as a box of frogs, just like me, unafraid to let the ugly feelings be shared and shine a light on them,