Delegates' Corner

LITTLE DID I KNOW when I was invited by the Ohio delegates to share their First State Conference what was in store for me. But by Saturday afternoon I realized that a new awareness of my own AA story was unfolding. As I spoke on Saturday evening at the banquet--I knew. My whole life seemed to kaleidoscope before me for the first time. I was home. I was born in Cincinnati, had my first drink in 1935 and left Ohio that year searching for the window in the clouds. Yes--I found romance, excitement and satisfaction in my airline work--but the inner me seemed to find true warmth only in the bottle. What I didn't know was that Bill W. and Dr. Bob were founding in Ohio--the very year I left--the answer to my search. In Columbus I truly knew, as I felt the warmth and love in the room, that AA was home to me. I shall remain forever grateful to the Ohioans for giving me the privilege of this new insight. Only now can I really say that I had to leave home to know what being Home can really mean.