Carried To Carry The Message

My journey of recovery started 35 years ago. It's been a long haul and I'm very fortunate to be writing this article for the Grapevine magazine. As a teen, I was sent out to Minnesota for rehab where I attended my first AA meeting in someone's home; I remember the warm welcoming feeling there provided by those older folks. When I came back home to Rochester 56 days later, the day before my 16th birthday (maybe that's why I'm called “AA's sweetheart” by some), a group of teens was waiting to take me to AA meetings here. At my first meeting out of rehab I remember declining to go to the First Step group saying: "I've had enough of the First Step."