The First Drink

When I joined AA in 1948, my group had only been operating since November 27, 1947. In 1969, I moved to New Brunswick, but I missed Halifax and to keep in touch bought the Halifax Herald. The first thing I did was turn to the obituary page (you do that at my age, which is eighty-four). I kept running across names of the deceased that I knew. "I recall him, he attended a few meetings, but drifted away," or "I knew him well, he was a very good member, attended meetings on a regular basis, then we missed him at meetings, heard he was drinking." It is surprising the number of erstwhile members who turned up in the obituary page--no surprise really if you are an active alcoholic.