Retreat From Sanity

AFTER ELEVEN years of drinking alcoholically, I was nearly killed on April 10, 1973. I had my first spiritual awakening on April 11, when I called the AA answering service and asked for help. A woman, later to become my first sponsor, came to talk to me. Several days later, she took me to my first AA meeting. I shall never forget my feelings when I walked into the meeting. I felt I belonged, for the first time in my thirty-three years; I felt enormous relief that I finally had a label for what was wrong with me (I had believed for many years that I was crazy); and I identified with the pain, fear, anger, and loneliness expressed by those present, regardless of their age, sex, or color. I was home, home at last!