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Back in May of 1991, me and a friend, Jim B. decided to launch our own meeting.                       We settled upon the name, ‘Sobriety First’.                                                                          It still exists, and meets at Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church, on Wianno Ave. in Osterville, MA.   I’ve never written about the experience.  That all changed when I received this missive from […]

 – Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid ~ Goethe  God provides us with all the tools we need, and He equipped us to take care of ourselves. Here’s the rub:Life doesn’t always turn out the way we’d planned. Sometimes, things just aren’t meant to be.You can plead, plot, plan, scheme, scam,

Once upon a time, I lived under the illusion that I was fooling everyone, because I was just a little bit smarter. Never mind that my drinking and “recreational drugging” rendered me dumber than a bucketful of hammers. Nobody was fooled. There are basically two types of people roaming around the planet:1. Those who show

Newcomers are our treasured and valued commodity. From the very beginning, Bill and Bob knew the importance of passing it on. AA would have perished long ago if not for the constant influx of new blood. Old timers pass, and the most improbable candidate steps forward to pick up the mantle…Alcoholics Anonymous will always survive.

LIVING IN THE SOLUTION No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. – Promise Five page 84-85 the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. Years ago when I was relatively new, I was sitting in a meeting listening to an older man named George ramble

FOR KEEPS When I started coming to meetings, there were certain things I embraced, and other stuff I just ignored. For starters, I knew I wasn’t going anywhere.  This was for keeps. To that end, I stopped wearing anything  with booze-based logos (I sacrificed  my baseball shirt collection featuring beer logos), and I immediately tossed

If you’re anything like me (and you probably are), you’ve become very adept at hiding in plain sight.  I always hid behind sarcasm, raunchy humor, exaggeration and anything else to avoid honest to goodness communication with another human being. My drinking and drugging began in earnest by the time I was 13.  Starting then, I

No doubt about it, I am my own worst critic.The only person who expects perfection from me is me. News Flash: I’m not perfect. Nobody’s perfect. I show up, do the best I can, and leave the results to God. That’s all there is to it.It’s a tall order for a controlling type A perfectionist.Hell,

There’s one topic we’re all very familiar with.I’ll go out on a limb and proclaim it AA’s most frequently discussed, and most popular topic:I’m talking about Gratitude, of course. It never fails. If a chairperson is at a loss, and casting about for a topic, I’ll bet you dollars to donuts Gratitude will wind up

The only requirement for AA membership is a desire to stop drinking. Tradition #3   The miracle of Alcoholics Anonymous is its sheer simplicity.            You want to quit drinking? You’re in.I promise, you will never get turned away because of crappy health insurance.We have no slickly produced commercials or catchy jingles.         We’re above that.However:Once you