From the March 2010 issue of AA Grapevine:
Gimme Shelter
In her search for a home for her family, a member finds serenity
After living rurally for six
years with my two daughters,
it became necessary
for me to move back to
Christchurch, New Zealand.
I had eight weeks to
prepare for moving and I
looked at many homes. They far exceeded
what I could afford. My past
behavior, when looking for property,
was to rent what I wanted and get
the nicest home, despite the burden
it would cause the family financially.
This time my thoughts had changed.
I could not afford to rent anything
that I had viewed so far. Doing so
would take the food from our bellies,
clothing from our backs and heat
from our bodies during the bitter
winter months: my thoughtless actions
would cripple the family.
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Bonus story from March 2010: Russian Roulette
There may be good odds, but that one shot is a killer
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i-Poll: What does having a drunk dream mean to you?
From the Digital Archive - January 01 1990
In the summer of 1967, I moved down to the southern part of Charles County, Maryland, to become the rector of a rural Episcopal parish. My wife and five daughters were delighted to settle into the spacious rectory on Piccowaxen Creek, an enjoyable little body of water that emptied into the Potomac River, about a quarter mile from the house. Life was pleasant there, and I was thrilled with my new work.
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From the Digital Archive — May 1959
Step Three--Across the Board
THERE are a lot of angles to this program," the guy said after the meeting. That rang a bell with me. I knew he had been a professional thief while drinking, and I acknowledged the fact that I had probably been a more successful crook in the old days, in terms of the take, than he ever had. I could spare him a quarter that day, bus fare to the employment office. He didn't ask for it.
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From the Digital Archive — October 1988
An Open Door
One thing puzzles me," remarked Josh, our group's six-weeks-sober member, responding to the leader's request for a discussion topic. "Well, a lot of things puzzle me, but right now it's what you just read from the Preamble, and it's in the Traditions: 'The only requirement for AA membership is a desire to stop drinking.' What if someone comes into AA who doesn't desire to stop drinking?"
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Written, edited, illustrated, and read by AA members and others interested in the AA program of recovery
from alcoholism, the Grapevine is a lifeline linking one alcoholic to another.