One, Two, Three—Ready, Ready, Go

Later, after a spending a bit of time in AA, I realized that I had unknowingly taken Steps One, Two, and Three, more or less instantaneously, around 5 o’clock in the morning on 30 January 1988, when I came to from a blackout, lying on my office couch with my winter coat and boots on. At that moment I was blessed with a grace: suddenly I knew that the reason I was so confused and miserable was my drinking, and that I needed to quit drinking. I was a daily drinker and I’d been drinking for over 20 years, trying, sometimes successfully, but more and more often unsuccessfully, to control my alcohol intake. At that moment, I admitted I was powerless over alcohol although I didn’t use those exact words (Step One).