The speaker at Sunday’s meeting told an engaging story of the challenges of being a father throughout his 30 years of recovery. And one thing he said before closing resonated with me and several others at the meeting.

“If I hadn’t found sobriety,” he said, “I wouldn’t be standing here today to share my story.”

When it came time for others to share several related to what he’d said. They attributed the fact they were alive today to their participation in 12-step recovery.

I know that I, with the intensity with which I was destroying my life over twenty years ago, wouldn’t have been writing these words today had I not gotten sober. Sometimes those who aren’t in recovery ask us how long we must to go to meetings. In other words, are we ever well enough to live like normal people? My answer is I go to stay in touch with my sobriety – and also to give back to those who gave so freely to help me get sober.

When I deal with parents of young people who come to TLC I emphasize the seriousness of our addictions, that it is a life and death situation. I tell them of the youngsters, who didn’t make it, who won’t grow old in sobriety.

Some parents, feeling a residual guilt about how their children turned out (where did I go wrong?) attempt to compensate by doing everything for their children. And yes, that sometimes includes buying them drugs to keep them from being sick.

What the parents really need to do is to encourage their children to participate in 12-step recovery where they might join those of us who are blessed by the promises of the program.