Facing eight years in jail , a dad with two fatally ill kids chooses sobriety By the time I was 18, I was a daily drinker. I graduated from a vocational high school and got a job working in a steel mill. I met a girl at church who later became my wife. We boughtContinue reading “Who I Want To Be – Grapevine Article March 2009 by Dwight E.”
Category Archives: Contributing
A Reason for Gratitude – Grapevine Article August 1996 by Carolene B.
It’s 9:30 p.m. I’m walking across the nearly deserted parking lot of the local plant where I work. Every bone, muscle, and nerve in my body is exhausted and aching. I pick one foot up and have to make myself put it down and take another step. My breath is short and I have aContinue reading “A Reason for Gratitude – Grapevine Article August 1996 by Carolene B.”
A Spoke In The Wheel – Grapevine Article March 1989 by G.H.
One Tuesday night a lonely confused woman named “Sara” walks through the doors of Alcoholics Anonymous. Sara feels alienated and depressed, feelings she has had most of her life. She is completely demoralized and knows she will never be accepted or feel loved by anyone again. But through all this despair she doesn’t want toContinue reading “A Spoke In The Wheel – Grapevine Article March 1989 by G.H.”
Learning to Trust Life – Grapevine Article July 1978 by J.W.
IT WAS VERY difficult to turn my life and will over to the care of a God I did not trust–a loving God, but a just God–a merciful God, but an omnipotent God capable of great wrath–a God who kept me in suspense wondering if He was going to deliver the goods to make meContinue reading “Learning to Trust Life – Grapevine Article July 1978 by J.W.”
An Atheist Speaks Out – Grapevine Article May 1962 by E.L.
I AM an alcoholic and an atheist. I am addressing this to those alcoholics who have had trouble with the religious overtones in the AA program. But let me state first that it depresses me to think of what life would be like without AA. It has been long on my mind to write thisContinue reading “An Atheist Speaks Out – Grapevine Article May 1962 by E.L.”
Moment of Clarity, Act of Providence – Grapevine Article by Joe C.
He wanted to die because nothing could be worse than the life he was living. But the cop who arrested him had other ideas This particular run has lasted about four and a half years since I picked up that first drink. I had left AA after 11 months of clean time knowing it couldContinue reading “Moment of Clarity, Act of Providence – Grapevine Article by Joe C.”
It Might Have Been the Time – Grapevine Article February 1950 by Lois (Bill W.‘s Wife and Al-Anon Founder )
I too needed spiritual development IT is hard to say just when Alcoholics Anonymous began. It may have been at the time a friend came to see my husband, Bill. Or it may have been at the moment of Bill’s spiritual experience. Most AAs feel it is the time six months later when he metContinue reading “It Might Have Been the Time – Grapevine Article February 1950 by Lois (Bill W.‘s Wife and Al-Anon Founder )”
Courage – Grapevine Article August 1974 by V.W.C.
We have learned courage by trying, and through AA we can channel it into new and beautiful ways ACROSS THE YEARS of sober living in AA, I must have said and heard the words “grant me the courage” several thousand times. Yet only recently did I sit down and figure out exactly what courage meansContinue reading “Courage – Grapevine Article August 1974 by V.W.C.”
Maudlin Martyrdom – As Bill Sees It #238
Self-pity is one of the most unhappy and comsuming defects that we know. It is a bar to all spiritual progress and can cut off all effective communication with our fellows because of its inordinate demands for attention and sympathy. It is a maudlin form of martyrdom, which we can ill afford. The remedy? Well,Continue reading “Maudlin Martyrdom – As Bill Sees It #238”
A Gift To Joe – Grapevine Article March 2016 by Joe T
Stuck in the rehab, he met a man who gave him a way out and also a way back in I was at the beginning of my second year of sobriety. It was late in October and the leaves were falling. The days were cool and the time of year was inviting nostalgia. My drinking friendsContinue reading “A Gift To Joe – Grapevine Article March 2016 by Joe T”