The Gentle Art of Being a Friend

ONE OF THE most dismaying things I heard when I started coming to AA meetings was that I would have to center my life in AA, make my friends there, give up all those dear friends I felt safe enough to black out with. When I was told that these people in smoke-filled church basements must become my closest companions, something in me mumbled, "Never!" But I met a lot of other things I heard with the same internal mumblings: "Not me! No way!"