Alcoholics Anonymous

Kind of sounds like that.

I'm not sure where her accent might place her, but Alcoholics Anonymous is an international organization whose members know firsthand all about these feelings, the inner regret and the remorse about the impact of her choices and addiction on others.

There are groups online internationally, and I'll include that link in the show notes.

You don't have to stop drinking to go to these meetings, but you do have to have a desire to do so and know you're an alcoholic.

And I'm drinking it out of my new unicorn mug, which I love.

So Bill Wilson, one of the founders of AA was in the Mayflower hotel and he wanted to drink and he had been sober for six months.

And the insanity of the first drink returned.

And he said to himself, eh, maybe I can handle like three drinks.

And then what happened to me is so important to understand.

I don't know how the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous got so far away from this.

And I love AA.

I go to a lot of meetings.

Just for today.

Every AA ought to know from The Three Legacies of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Dr.

Bob was essentially a far more humble person than I.

telling me about this dr bob grinned broadly and said god bless them they mean well but for heaven's sake bill let's you and i get buried just like other folks A year after his passing, I visited the Akron Cemetery where Dr.

Bob and Ann lie.

The simple stone says not a word about Alcoholics Anonymous.

Some people may think that this wonderful couple carried personal anonymity too far when they so firmly refused to use the words Alcoholics Anonymous even on their own burial stone.

And dude, it's about, it's about, um, like resources for people who are for young people in recovery or, or a younger crowd getting clean.

And I'm struggling with a man and, and, uh, So I've recently, you know, I went to go do this Halloween party at the AA fellowship around here, and it was put off by a few young people in AA groups.

Bro, it was poppin'.

For instance, I'm talking about it was poppin', all right? And then I went to a home group, you know, meeting of one of the groups that put it off, and it was poppin'.

And to no surprise, bro, they're all addicts.

Or most of them, you know, they're all addicts.

And they found a home in the Young People AA fellowship here.

And I'll put this, I want to buttress this with our most recent Unity Day in NA that we had here.

Newcomers, that is, both to recovery as a whole and newcomers to this podcast.

Sober Speak is a podcast about recovery centered around the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.

My job here on Sober Speak is simple.

My job is to provide a platform to the amazing stories of recovery all around us.

And so, uh, very cool.

All right.

We're going to wrap it up again with page one 64 from the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous.

It says, uh, Abandon yourself to God as you understand God.

Welcome everyone to the grapevine open meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous.

I'm Vera and I'm an alcoholic and I'll be your host for the month of November.

This is the AA Preamble.

Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of people who share their experience, strength, and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism.

The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking.

There are no dues or fees for AA membership.

It's not only a yet for myself, but quite possibly one for someone else if I ever go back to drinking and driving.

And that came from Bill H. from Mass.

And I remember actually that morning, October 10th, 2011, walking up to the meeting.

It was an early morning 7 a.m. meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous.

And it was on the second floor of an Episcopal church a few blocks from the beach in San Diego.

And I lived in San Diego for about 15 years before moving here to Nashville.

But I begrudgingly, I guess, said yes and walked up the stairs and made my way into the room and shared enough so that afterwards a man darted across the room, looked me in the eyes and said, I know exactly how you feel.

You don't ever have to drink again.

And that man, along with the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous, saved my life and brought me back to the church and really provided a foundation for this beautiful life that I get to live today.

And the second, I would say, is really hearing the call to start something within the church that served individuals and families impacted by addiction.

And funnily enough, I mean, you would notice it in our methodology of qualification.

I actually stole it from Alcoholics Anonymous.

Okay, interesting.

So the premise of a qualified lead to a buzz is exactly the same.

And we are broadcasting from the beautiful Cincinnati Public Radio studios.

Here on That's Me, That's Me, we talk about what brought people back after their first meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous.

So often we hear about what got people to their first meeting, but we love hearing about what brought people back to their second.

What did they see? What did they hear? And what did they feel that encouraged them to return to the rooms? Each week we invite a guest to come on the show and share their story of what brought them back to their second meeting and the moment they began to relate and say to themselves, that's me, that's me.