Drinking In Dubai

I surrendered to the program December 3, 1986, in Miami. I had had enough after thirty years of drinking and lost job opportunities. I was forty-nine, nearly broke, and homeless in a city I knew only by tourist fame. AA took me in, found me a halfway house, and the next seven years gave me sobriety, a place to live, good opportunities, and a chance to return to school where I earned my M.A. in teaching English to speakers of other languages. Armed with my degree, I went to Saudi Arabia in June, 1993, for good oil money and a new chance. But the old disease was still there "just waiting," as my halfway house counselor had told me in 1987.