IT WAS ALL NEW TO ME

BEING a teenage alcoholic often places a person into an interesting set of circumstances when he sobers up. I joined AA when I was 18 in the Midwest. There were very few young people and no organized young people's groups, committees or conferences for me to attend. For me, identification happened slowly and opportunities to get involved in committee-level service came even more slowly. Even becoming a sponsor took a while. People who asked me were often 10-15 years older than me and were either not serious about recovery from alcoholism or had life problems I had never experienced. For an alcoholic whose life depends on Twelfth Step work, times were sometimes rough.