This article touched us so much that we had to share it with you all. Sent to me by an AA friend...
We buried him yesterday. The County Coroner had published the required notices for next of kin and nobody had claimed the body. It was just me and his sponsor, no preacher even, the county doesn't pay for those.

Not much of send-off, and not the one David had asked for.. A cheap coffin, a backhoe dug a hole, and that was it; just another old AA gone.

He had been sober over 20 years and first tried AA over 30 years ago, a stern and rigid man who tried to soften his edges and never could.

He was a loner, a fringer, an isolated man at the edge of life's good things. He hung in there.... and in the end hung himself. I don't know why; I can't know.

I know there had been a diagnosis of senile dementia, and I know that the doctor had added cancer to the list. But, I've seen AA's deal with such things before... I don't know why David decided he couldn't.

It isn't the first time I've been through this in Alcoholics Anonymous. I've known several men over the years who just up and walked out life's door one day. Sober but they are not happy. Sober but they are not at peace. Sober but they died of alcoholism.

Our disease doesn't need us to drink in order to kill us. I wish more folks knew that, and appreciated it.

Alcoholism is the only disease that is entirely capable of fighting back, of taking care of it self, and of(Click Read More to continue November's Article)

If you go to step meetings like I do that follow the months of    the year, you feel totally exhausted of Steps 8 and 9 by the end of September. Amazingly, however, no matter how many times I am in meetings that discuss a step (and we take one entire month per step), I hear something new or I have somewhat of an epiphany concerning my own recovery. And since I have been asked to speak on Step 8 this Sunday, I guess there are still a few things my Higher Power wants me to either put out there or clarify something within my own sobriety.

I feel that I have exhausted Steps 8 and 9 in my articles from how to do a Step 8 to everything I had experienced in Step 9; but when all is said and done, more is always revealed to me within my recovery and that is what I want to share with you.

When anyone first begins working the steps it seems that most newcomers are aware of and in fear of Steps 4, 5, 8, and 9. We all know why they are so intimidated. They require trust, honesty, humility, openness, willingness and probably a lot more. In other words, all of the qualities many of us do not have a grip on when we...(to continue article click "Read More" below)

There is a women's AA Step meeting that I attend every week. We study one step per month which seems almost boring but you would be amazed at how much we can get out of one single step. This meeting has been an inspiration to me in writing my weekly articles. I can hear so many wonderful perspectives on every aspect of a step from women who might be different yet so much the same.

The discussion was on Step Two ("Came to believe in a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity"). The focus was on a Higher Power and I continue to be amazed at those who only recently found one. I think I am amazed because I am not sure I could have ever hung on to sobriety without a Higher Power from the first day.

The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous tells us that sometimes it is easier for an agnostic to find a Higher Power than it is for someone raised in a traditional religion. I do not doubt that this is true for some folks because they only had to find a Higher Power for the first time. They did not have years and

THE PROMISES
( or Step 9 ½)

By Kathy L.

The first time I sat in an AA meeting I could have been sitting in a room the size of a banquet hall or an elevator. It was only important that I was there. I didn't pay much attention because "if" I continued to attend meetings I would probably attend those closest to my home anyway. I did continue and attended meetings in one of the largest facilities in the area which holds every type of 12 Step Recovery meetings known to mankind and a couple I have to say I had never heard of. The reason why this is important to mention is that I want to include all of those in recovery regardless of the addiction and to continue to acknowledge that the 12 Steps are the same except for naming the specific addiction in Step One.

After a few meetings in this facility, and probably because I no longer sat there with tears in my eyes, I began to take stock of the room and that every wall was covered in something motivational. Pictures of Bill W. and Dr. Bob, coffee mugs with names and sobriety dates, all of the recovery phrases, The Twelve Steps, The Twelve Principles and what is that? The Promises? Now wait a minute! I like the other stuff but if I can have these things then I have no doubt I am in the right place. I want them and I want them NOW!

The Promises were the good news. The bad news was that when it states "we will be amazed before we