The Courage to Come Back

I had sobered up early in life, at nineteen in fact, and made a lot of friends in the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. But after my tenth year of sobriety, I began to pick up some of my old behavior patterns. I felt as if I had "beaten" the disease. I never even considered the possibility of a relapse, because I knew that it would never happen to me. After staying away from meetings, I began to forget all the things that I needed to be reminded of on a regular basis. I also stopped praying and meditating because I was much too busy in the mornings, rushing to work. Then one day, after twelve years of sobriety, it happened. I snapped at a person at work who was not acting the way I thought she should be acting. Then I decided to teach the world a lesson. I decided to go out and have a couple of beers.