I was on my way out the front door this morning, heading for my regular Sunday AA meeting on East Main Street in Mesa.
"Where are you going?" asked one of my relatives, who was visiting from out of state.
"To an AA meeting," I replied.
"Do you still go to those things?" she asked. "You've been sober for over 30 years, haven't you?"
"Thirty-one years," I replied. "But I still go to meetings."
Then I went on to explain that no matter how long one has been sober they're always an alcoholic. And that attending meetings on a regular basis is one of the things that reinforces their recovery.
Besides that, it's a chance to meet old friends in recovery - or maybe make some new ones.
And I don't care how many years I've been sober, I often hear a story about someone who's relapsed and what the consequences were. I've never heard an alcoholic say that their lives got better when they relapsed.
Instead it's always a tale of loss of family, jobs, illness, arrests or some other mess that that first drink led them to. And I'm done with that.
Every time I attend a meeting I leave with a good feeling. Either I heard someone's story of how AA has changed their life. Or I see old friends I haven't encountered in a while.
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