True Change

Despite the countless times I had already driven while blacked-out drunk, it took me until a month after my 21st birthday to receive a DUI. This brought me to my first meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous. Not because I thought I needed it, but because I thought it would look good and the judge would be lenient in my sentencing. I don't remember my first meeting, possibly because I never stopped drinking, but I do remember my first impression. This was a small group of men and women, old and young, that all had one thing in common: they all complained about their daily dread, and how they wanted to drink but couldn't. I stopped attending after sentenced to court DUI classes. Looking back to that introduction to the program, I also remember understanding how alcohol had already injected itself into my daily life.