November 1981

Originally published in ESSAY, November 15, 1981
(Volume One, Issue One)

The word from the S.A. members around the country is unity. We’re being welded together in a fellowship of recovery. Men and women are getting sober! Coming out of themselves into the light, and making contact with other members. Coming to. Becoming part of the healing process of each other’s lives. That’s good news.

And there’s more. New S.A. groups are forming. There’s cross-fertilization starting between groups. And the spouses have started their own Fellowship—S-Anon, patterned after the Al-Anon Family Groups associated with A.A. They’ve discovered they need a Program of their own. They haven’t remained untouched; ours is as much a family disease as alcoholism.

So much to be grateful for. Maybe I should make a list of my own; doing so has been known to keep me out of the “poor me’s.” What am I grateful for?

• For my sobriety. I would have nothing without that.
• For the sobriety of others in my life, even though they may be phone dollars away.
• For the Presence. A God of my very own. A faith that works.
• For the fact that most of the time I can now live comfortably with myself and others—one day at a time.
• For the joy of seeing others gain victory over the obsession and come to life.
• For the Fellowship this creates. I need this as much as anyone else.
• For the love of other recovering men and women—a bond that’s closer than anything I’ve ever known.
• That all my needs are met (not all my wants).

We look back on our lives, even the bad times, and it seems we’ve always gotten what we’ve really needed. All of our past is what got us here; and we’re grateful to be here. Think of where else we might be! Someone’s surely been looking out for us, in spite of ourselves. And it seems He’s more interested in our freedom and joy than we are.

I embrace you all and wish I could meet with you all each week.