From the Grass Roots

MY granddad was a fair horse-trader in his day. He usually came out ahead. My dad, too, made out OK with horses, sheep, cows and pigs--but me, I lost everything. I found myself trading the coat off my back to buy that badly needed drink. Unlike Gramps, I lost every time. And then, that last deal, my entrance into AA: I traded a life of shame, remorse and hopelessness for a decent way of life; a life of good, clean living as I see it today; a life of trying to chalk up a little bit of good every day. So, Gramps, bad trader that I was, I came out ahead the day I accepted the fact that I was powerless over alcohol.