The rooms are often not pretty. The furniture doesn't look like its from IKEA. The Salvation Army or Goodwill would be more likely. There's always the smell of strong coffee wafting into the hallway. The occupants in these church basements and classrooms, are old and young, wealthy and poor, in business attire and shorts and tshirts. They drink coffee. They mingle. They laugh. And they drink more coffee.
The meeting opens with the Serenity prayer followed by readings from 'their Bible' - The big book of Alcoholics Anonymous. It's actually a blue book but its called the big book anyway.
What follows is never static. Discussion, tears, laughter and most of all, the stories of miracles.
*The man who lost it all - his family, his job, his soul...now sober and a respectable member of society.
*The young woman who lost her children to the State because of her addiction, now sober and blessed with the gift of parenting again.
*The elderly man, still full of life, who turned his life around 55 years ago when he stumbled into an AA meeting and found he wasn't really alone like he had believed.
*The bright-eyed 18 year old, who hardly even needs to shave yet, full of enthusiasm for a program that has given him a chance for freedom from the drugs he had become a slave to.
*The man released from prison, the woman who escaped homelessness, the housewife who drank in secrecy, the executive who drank every day at lunch....all miracles who have gathered in the room.
None of those assembled need religion, money or status. All that is needed is a desire and willingness to try a new way of life. And, of course, the ability to drink really bad coffee!
No one is sure why or how the miracles happen but they can't be denied because they are too many and happen too often.
And so the meeting ends each holding the hand of the one next to them with bowed heads during the Lord's Prayer. During the hour, a renewed chance for a life beyond the wildest dreams has been afforded to them once again ...a beautiful life without drugs and alcohol.
The final act of the gathering is emptying and cleaning the coffee pot, because they all know....
No coffee - No meeting. No meeting - No miracles.
This is Alcoholics Anonymous.
Between the lines (and one day at a time!),
Lee Ann R.
