WENT OUT OR STAYED OUT?

"Come with me...have a drink, friend..."

"EVERY DAY IS CHRISTMAS!
EVERY NIGHT IS NEW YEARS' EVE!"

Why Oh Why do people drink more around holiday/Holy-Day time. Is it like a reprieve from sanity? It's like a "Get out of jail FREE" card, which often turns into a "Go back to jail" card.

Literally, every time I turn around these days, I'm confronted with a new wet one, or a returning wet one. And they seem to gravitate towards steveroni. I do not hold up a sign, "Pick me!" I do not EVER respond when a chairperson asks, "Whoever is willing to be a sponsor, please raise your hand..." Yet, when a beginner or returnee walks into the room , they invariably find the chair next to me, and claim it for their own.

This past week one day, at a 5:30PM meeting , it was time for my third cup of coffee. And in walked J, a guy I'd seen each morning for about 30 mornings during September. He had not 'been around' lately, and the smell, as he walked into the big room, well...it changed. He sat nearby, and when he spotted me, he immediately moved over and slid into the vacant chair next to moi. Well, I could smell the strong odor of alcohol, and as I was trying to decide what brand of cheap vodka he had been drinking, he gushed out s few words: Hello, Schtefe, yu 'member me, J?

Yep, I remembered.

I figured, "I'll show this guy how to stay sober if it kills me." Instead, J showed ME a few things. He was unaware that anything he said might have had an affect on me that afternoon, but here is the very short of it, what happened.

J started crying after we went outside so he could smoke (they all smoke, it seems). He told me he stopped going to meetings because everything seemed to be working OK in his life. Got his good job back, his wife acted happy (key word "acted"?), the police had ended the stakeout on his house, you get the picture...things were looking up for J. Up until that very morning. J felt so good, that a little celebration was called for, just a simple pint (only 16 oz., sheeesh!) of cheap vodka, no big deal, for a fellow who was used to nearly two quarts per day, just for maintenance.

He told me "All I had was one F***ing PINT, for God's sake! One lousy F***ing pint, and it ruined the rest of my whole life. I drank one little pint, and my wife left me, my boss fired me, the police are trying to nail my butt to a cot in the jail, this (AA Club) is the only place I could come, and be welcomed. Among more tears, he said to me, "Don't let it happen to you, Steve. Also, I need a sponsor."

Four days later, this afternoon, at the 5:30 meeting J was outside the hall. My sponsor was the guest speaker at this meeting, and J chose to spend his time with the "real winners" sitting outside. (WARNING! A "Steve" Judgment coming:) These people regularly choose to not attend meetings...and so goes another short story of another drunk, who is being offered--again--the gift of sobriety, and who seems to be spurning it. I'm certain God will take good care of J. My father, who was sightless, said many times, "God watches over drunks, and blind people".

But God just maybe will not keep J out of jail one more time....God insists that I, and everyone else, including J, cooperate--even if only a little bit--with His gifts, in order to achieve one day their fulfillment.

steveroni prays now that active and inactive drunks everywhere find and accept that inner peace which IS available, if we only embrace a few simple principles, follow a few simple rules. These Steps will lead to a complete psychic change, which is my/our goal. I hope that word "COMPLETE" was copied!

PHOTO CREDIT