Hanging in There Together

WHEN I CAME on the program, in October 1956, it was in a foreign country, where there were no groups, no meeting place, no anything much. A lady passing through Venezuela on a visit carried the message and "captured" five pigeons--three men, me, and one other woman. When our traveling lady departed, she left five very dickery new members. The "oldest" was three months dry. I was last, with a few weeks, barely dry between the ears, still confused, and as nutty as a fruitcake. Our only hope was in hanging in there together, writing a lot of silly, incomprehensible questions to the AA General Service Office. We always got answers. Of course, we knew nothing of treatment centers or recovery homes. We all imagined this was how AA worked: If we wanted to stay sober, we just had to sweat it out. So we sweated and prayed and hung in there.