From the March 2010 issue of AA Grapevine:

Gimme Shelter

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.

Bonus story from March 2010: Russian Roulette

Story of the Day: R-e-s-p-e-c-t

I recently had the pleasure of attending a young people's conference hosted by members of my home group. It was the typical young people's conference experience: energy and emotions ranged between extremes, from excitement and hilarity to a profound and reverent understanding of the seriousness of this disease. And I got lots and lots of hugs. Hugging has become the staple of conferences, and, indeed, of AA in general. Though some groups and some areas avoid this custom, I usually can count on a few embraces at any meeting. This is, as far as I know, an AA phenomenon. Newcomers and visitors are usually a little shocked and uncomfortable at first, but touch can have the power to make ... Read more >

Step Three:

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. Read more >

Tradition Three:

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?" Read more >