Last Thursday was my day off. Home alone…no car…the kids at school. My wife and stepson had each taken a vehicle.

One evening a while back, a sponsee of mine relapsed. In spite of all his efforts, he was unable to stay sober.

I was recently rereading our AA book Dr. Bob and the Good Old-Timers and got to an interesting passage…

The room sits quietly waiting for the first group of the day to take it over. The final conversations of last night’s late AA meeting drifted off hours ago. A new day starts.

I was like a miner with a pickaxe. I had to burrow down deep into my mind just to find the answer to a question as simple as, “How are you?” 

That jacket was a beautiful thing when I got it. It was made of new leather that smelled...well, you know how new leather smells. 

Without the support of my Twelve Step programs, I don’t know that I could navigate the kind of change that’s happening now.

How am I supposed to stay sober during this? There are no stories of experience, strength, and hope during a plague! I’ve checked the Big Book. What do we do now?

I’m sitting here, sequestered in my apartment in Manhattan in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. It’s given me time to be able to sit down and finally write something for Grapevine. 

Here in prison, it’s sometimes really difficult to do the right thing all the time. I try really hard. I’m successful most of the time, but it often comes at a price.

Even after two years of sobriety, I wasn’t as spiritually “fuel-efficient” as I sometimes imagined myself to be.

Over the last few years my wife and I were able to travel and experience the beauty of this wonderful world. We attended AA meetings in all of the countries that we traveled to.

In 2010, while serving as a DCM for my district in Eastern Pennsylvania, I was asked to give a workshop on the Twelve Concepts.

I have two home groups. They are on opposite sides of the world. One is in Northern California, and has been around for quite a few years and is flourishing.

It was Friday night and a hush fell over the conference center as the opening speaker took to the stage. Tears filled her eyes and a wave of emotion touched all in attendance.

Happy Birthday Alcoholics Anonymous