Lonely at the Top

When I first got sober fourteen years ago, I had no trouble finding a sponsor. Just about everyone in the group had been sober longer than I had, so all I had to do was find someone who was active and with whom I could relate. My first sponsor was a New York Bowery bum. I related to his low bottom because I too had taken alcoholism just about as far as one can and still survive. He had been sober for ten years when I came to AA, and at the time that seemed to me an eternity. Now, some years later I frequently am the person with the longest time at the meetings I attend.