Why grateful?

Every other weekend I attend an open AA meeting in a hospital on Long Island. It has become one of my favorite meetings due to the diversity of the attendees: newly sober people coming in from being detoxed, as well as those of us with a lot of sober time. This past Sunday when the chairperson asked if anyone was visiting or at the meeting for the first time, two young women at the back of the room stood up and announced they were medical students from a nearby university. As part of their course study they had to attend several AA meetings and this was their first one. The group applauded and they sat back down, listening intently for the remainder of the meeting.