Foreword

We, of Alcoholics Anonymous, are more than one hundred men and women who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. To show other alcoholics precisely how we have recovered is the main purpose of this book. For them, we hope these pages will prove so convincing that no further authentication will be necessary. We think this account of our experiences will help everyone to better understand the alcoholic. Many do not comprehend that the alcoholic is a very sick person. And besides, we are sure that our way of living has its advantages for all.

from: "Stars Don’t Fall"

AA taught me how not to drink. And also, on the twenty-four hour plan, it taught me how to live. I know I do not have to be “queen of them all” to salve a frightened ego. Through going to meetings and listening, and occasionally speaking, through doing Twelve Step work, whereby in helping others you are both the teacher and the student, by making many wonderful AA friends, I have been taught all the things in life that are worth having. I am no longer interested in living in a palace, because palace living was not the answer for me. Nor were those impossible dreams I used to have the things I really wanted.

One of the greatest secrets of life is having both patience & wisdom...

Mistakes Are How We Learn

I Am Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving

Nothing Like A Man In Work Boots....

In Memory Of My Good Old Friend Dean Rippon Who Passed This Morning

Forget Rednecks ... here is what Jeff Foxworthy has
to say about Vermonters...

If someone in a Home Depot store offers you
assistance and they don't work there, you live in
Vermont .

If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same
time, you live in Vermont .

If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation
with someone who dialed a wrong number, you live in Vermont .


If "Vacation" means going anywhere south of
Burlington for the weekend, you live in Vermont .

If you measure distance in hours, you live in
Vermont .

If you know several people who have hit a deer more
than once, you live in Vermont .

If you have switched from "heat" to
"A/C" in the same day and back again, you live in
Vermont

If you can drive 75 mph through 2 feet of snow during
a raging blizzard without flinching, you live in Vermont .

If you install security lights on your house and
garage, but leave both unlocked, you live in Vermont .

If you carry jumper cables in your car and your wife
knows how to use them, you live in Vermont .

If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit
over a snowsuit, you live in Vermont .

If the speed limit on the highway is 55 mph,
you're going 80, and everybody is passing you, you live
in Vermont .

If driving is better in the winter because the
potholes are filled with snow, you live in Vermont .

If you know all four seasons: almost winter, winter,
still winter, and road construction, you live in Vermont .

If you have more miles on your snow blower than your
car, you live in Vermont .

If you find 10 degrees "a little chilly,"
you live in Vermont .

If you actually understand these jokes, and forward
them to all your Vermont friends, you live in Vermont .

Dean loved his Dog Shego, his chipmunks.loving in the moment, love to him was trust. honesty and respect. He was a navy seal who wrestled Alligators in fla.His wife swam the English channnel. They were divorced. He spoke VERY LOUD and had a prosphate problem so he stunk of urine. He chopped his own wood and built his own home. He had a waterfall in his bedroom window and a hot tub inside and outside he built. He was a gemologist.

He lived without booze and recently yold me he could not eat. I did not listen. He was trying to tell me he was getting the cancer back. The cancer that took him. I miss him already. He loved my best friend Carol.

Molestation

I was molested by my dad but also by my best girl friend. I was only about 10.
Her mother was my mothers best friend. I remember the shame of it. Things are surfacing lately.
Sue-zen

from: "The Perpetual Quest"

Many years later, although alcohol is not part of my life and I no longer have the compulsion to drink, it can still occur to me what a good drink tastes like and what it can do for me, from my stand-at-attention alcoholic taste buds right down to my stretched out tingling toes. As my sponsor used to point out, such thoughts are like red flags, telling me that something is not right, that I am stretched beyond my sober limit. It's time to get back to basic AA and see what needs changing. That special relationship with alcohol will always be there, waiting to seduce me again. I can stay protected by continuing to be an active member of AA.

Over Sixty?

Perks of reaching 50 or being over 60 and heading towards 70!

01.. Kidnappers are not very interested in you.
02. In a hostage situation you are likely to be released first.
03.. No one expects you to run--anywhere.
04. People call at 9 pm and ask, did I wake you?
05. People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.
06. There is nothing left to learn the hard way.
07. Things you buy now won't wear out.
08. You can eat supper at 4 pm. (if you got to the Golden Corral before 4 pm, (you can get it much cheaper)... Senior Priced...
09. You get into heated arguments about pension plans.
10. You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.
11. You quit trying to hold your stomach in no matter who walks into the room.
12. You sing along with elevator music.
13. Your eyes won't get much worse.
14. Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off.
15. Your joints are more accurate meteorologists than the national weather service.
16. Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can't remember them either.
17. Your supply of brain cells is finally down to manageable size.
18. You can't remember who sent you this list.And you notice these are all in Big Print for your convenience.
Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

I can't respond to any emails today........

Something has crashed on my computer and the mouse is missing......

My Scope Finally A Good One

You're not going to be prepared for the depth of the feelings that will wash over you -- but neither will the lucky person who inspires them. Lest you worry that's a bad thing, keep in mind that intensity is absolutely necessary to commitment. And you are ready, aren't you?
Restraining yourself may be tough, but it will definitely be easier than the apologies you'll need to make if you let it fly. Hold your breath, if need be.