I'm THANKFUL for.....

being sober and having a family that is great to be with. I'm thankful for being a member of AA, so I can go to Lost Wages each November for a Roundup. I'm thankful for my co-sponsor who lives in Vegas and I can spend some time with him when I go there. I'm thankful for friends and people who I can help and they can also help me. I'm thankful my 87 y/o mom is still around and I can spend time with her (I owe big time!). I'm thankful for my daughter and her husband and kids like me. I have taken my granddaughter (19) with me when I speak at meetings. She likes her grandpa. I'm thankful that I have a life worth living today. I could go on and on. What are you thankful for? Time for a cup of coffee, see ya later. Bob

Half a Beer Club........

I am a dues paying member of the "Half a Beer Club". So, what is this club? My first Sponsor told me that they got me a half a beer to late! So he designated me to the half a beer club. He told me that I am about as well as I will ever be, and that was 20 some years ago. My current sponsor agrees with my first Sponsor and tells me that I will always be in the "Half a Beer Club", so get used to it! Maybe you are one of those to. We do all we can do, but we can only get about this well. We work the steps, help others, practice these principles in almost all of our affairs, just don't cause the kind of trouble we used to cause, and people around us are able to live a much better life because they spend less time trying to keep track of us. I am OK with being in this selective club, one day at a time. Any of you in that club? Time for a cup of coffee, see ya later. Bob

I have HEROS!!

I know, in AA we never put anyone on a pedestal. My dear friend, Father Martin, told me onetime: Didn't you have heroes when you were a kid? Like the Lone Ranger, Gene Autry, and others. Was it harmful to do that? Didn't they lose the battle once in a while? Do I have heroes? You bet I do! Are they capable of falling? Yes they are. But, while they are doing good, they are my heroes. Even when they fall and get back up, they are still my hero. They are those people who have provided the way for me. Taught me valuable lessons. I would watch them go thru life troubles, and sometimes they would succeed, and sometimes they wouldn't. I have a lot of heroes in AA, and some who are just regular people. That's my point. What's yours. Time for a cup of coffee, see ya later. Bob

For that I am responsible!

Have you ever heard the "Responsible Pledge"? When anyone, anywhere reaches out for help, I want the hand of AA to be there, for that I am responsible. That always interested me. So, if AA is just for alcoholics, why does it say "anyone"? Why doesn't it say alcoholics? My thoughts about that are: we are supposed to help ANYONE who needs help, not just other drunks. So, why do we try to tell addicts or any other addicted person to go somewhere else if they need help for something other than alcoholism? I used a lot of drugs in my using years, along with and mostly alcohol. I am an alcoholic, but I am an addict too. When I came around in the early '80's they reached out to me, because I met the pledge. I was an "ANYONE". Well that's my thoughts, what are yours? Time for a cup of coffee, see ya later. Bob

I need to find a Sponsor......

People in my business have been telling people for years to: Look around and find someone you can relate to. If someone would have told me that, I would have went back to the bar. I can relate to the person sitting next to me on a bar stool. I tell him two lies and buy him a drink. He tells me two lies and buys me a drink. I can relate to that. I couldn't relate to someone telling me the truth about myself and what I needed to do to change. I tell people to do what has been done since the beginning. In 1941 the first meeting schedule was developed in Cleveland. In the back of that schedule it told you how to get a sponsor. It says the same today, no need to change! "The secretary in turn finds a sponsor". If I used my head (what a mess that thing was) to find a sponsor, it would be a bad idea. If someone who was sober for a bit and had a home group roster to choose from, chances are a more able sponsor would be appointed. Keep it Simple!! Time for a cup of coffee, see ya later. Bob

Just don't drink.......

I was at my Home Group today and a lady I have known for some time was sitting there crying. She had got drunk the last several days. She has never been able to get more than a few years at a time. The first thing she said to me was "I'm Sorry Bob". I said to her, sorry for what, doing what we are all supposed to be doing. I then asked her, "are you sober today?". She said Yes. I told her, "Me too!" I'll tell you what we will do. Lets keep doing what we are doing today for the rest of today, and when we get up tomorrow, we'll do it one more day. Let's just do this "One day at a time". Let's not complicate a simple program. She gave me a hug and said, "I love you Bob, thanks for being a friend". KEEP IT SIMPLE, ONE DAY AT A TIME. Time for a cup of coffee, see ya later. Bob

My Home Group

I joined my home group four years before I got sober. I'm sober now for 24 years. So I have been at the same, and only home group for 28 years. All the old timers that were there when I arrived are, unfortunately, deceased. The group has taken a different direction and I feel left out in the new direction they have taken. A lot of the old ways are gone. I don't like that! Imagine that, I don't do well with change. Some of the things that are happening are not in line with AA principles, especially the Home Group booklet that is available through Central Office. I spent a lot of time discussing this with my Sponsor, and after a lot of talking and several months of maybe, maybe not, and on and on, I have finally made a decision with the help from a lot of AA's, including my Sponsor. I had been going to a group on Saturdays since they started and like the meeting. They like me and I talked to the people who started the group and they told me, " we would love to have you be a member here!" One group, not feeling welcome, one group please come with us. Not much of a choice, other than doing that thing we dislike the most, CHANGE. So I did it!! I left the first one and joined the new one. Real life is still happening. Time for a cup of coffee, see ya later. Bob

Who's helping who?

When I got sober my sponsor told me that I am here to help you! Shortly after that, he told me, "you are doing a good job keeping a lot of people sober". I didn't understand that. He said, "how do you think us old timers stay sober? By helping you!" This recovery thing is a two-way street. I help the new person and he gets sober (or maybe not). While I'm doing that, I am bolstering my own recovery. Step Twelve stuff. I believe that statement, The most important person in the room is that new person. Without him, how would I continue to build my own recovery. By myself? We know how well that worked in the past. Boy, I love this AA stuff! Time for a cup of coffee, see ya later. Bob

I am everything I have always........

loved in a person! Boy, it took a long time to get here. I hated my very existence for a number of years ( and sometimes still do). I was sober a number of years before I began to accept myself for however I was at that time. As Dr. O would say, "acceptance is the answer to all my problems, whenever some person, place, thing, some fact of my life is unacceptable to me, I can find no serenity until I accept that, on and on. Well, I was that person, place, and thing that was unacceptable to me. How do you do that? Find peace within yourself? What an order! I can't go through with it. But I had to, or just lay down and die. Well, I went through with it and didn't lay down and die. I'm here today and pretty happy being Bob. Time for a cup of coffee, see ya later. Bob