So tell me about the first person who took you to a meeting,

[wildeyed]

or, if you went on your own, the first person you felt close to in the program. I was chatting with AZDem in her birthday thread and got to thinking about this because she still calls the guys who 12 stepped her :D

I went to my first meeting with a woman who was my assistant manager at a small business I managed. She was very bright and a good worker, but also very volatile. One day, knowing she was in recovery, I confided to her that I was really worried about my drinking. She jumped into action and took me to not one but two meetings that first day. I was overwhelmed. And not quite ready to quit, which made her angry. We eventually fell out over both my drinking and having two big personalities in a small space and she moved on. But I remembered what I saw at those first meetings and eventually made my way back. We both made amends eventually but were never really friends. Funny how things work, huh? That someone you don;t really like and who doesn't like you can save your life.

[NMDemDist2]

1. i went to my first meeting alone

at noon and cried through the whole thing. I hadn't cried in years. I thought AA was a really poorly run organization cuz there were no Kleenex around.

when I saw the 2nd step on the wall, I knew I was doomed. then I saw a flier for a new meeting in a metaphysical bookstore and thought there might be a ray of hope.

they gave me paper towels and told me to go to meetings and read the BB. so I stopped at the library and checked out a copy of the BB (i was willing to commit the 3 weeks the library would loan me the book hehehe) What is really amazing is I returned that book and continued to frequent that library for years and never, never saw a copy of Alcoholics Anonymous on the shelves again.

at 6PM I went to the big meeting hall and walked into a Men's meeting. the secretary of the meeting (which thankfully hadn't started yet) gently explained I couldn't stay but was welcome back at 8PM.

I somewhat forcefully (all right, it was VERY forcefully, hysterically even) explained to HIM that I couldn't stay sober til 8PM was he NUTZ???

so he picked out a couple long timers and they took me outside and talked to me til 8PM then I stayed for that meeting, then some kind souls took me out to coffee

that young man (the secretary) became a close friend, in spite of the difference in our ages. He seemed to think I needed to be under his wing. :rofl:

and by wild's request, here's the link to the story of how I got 12 stepped to that noon meeting in the first place

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=336&topic_id=1578&mesg_id=1584

[KitchenWitch]

2. I went with my dad, who got sober almost 4 years before I did.

Funny thing is, I was the one who initiated the intervention that got him sober.

:grouphug:

[NMDemDist2]

3. whoa

talk about the law of unintended consequences huh??

:rofl:

[KitchenWitch]

4. You have NO idea!

:rofl:

[RetroLounge]

5. I went to my first meeting alone

but I met Bill as I walked in the door, and we've been friends ever since.

In my 16+ years he's been my best friend, my sponsor, my roommate and my example.

I credit him with showing me a way of life without alcohol...

:hug:

RL

[NMDemDist2]

8. what a great story!

:loveya:

[Kajsa]

6. I also went with my Dad.

We went to his home group in Culver City.

I was scared witless, but I knew that was the only way I was
going to get sober. I had tried everything else, to no avail.
( half measures and all)
My clearest memory was thinking, "there's no way these guys
have stayed sober that long! These guys are too friggin happy,
they must be brainwashed- Gawd- is this a religious cult?" :rofl:
I couldn't stay sober for 24 hours.
Through talking to other alkis I realized there was another way,
even though I didn't understand how it would work.

I cried and cried, not really sure why I had so much grief. Later, I realized
that I was saying goodbye to my drinking life, the only one I had known
for a long time. My drinking would never be the same.

Even though I went out several times after that, I never forgot what I heard
in those meetings.
And like my Dad, who went out after 14 years of sobriety and went right back
to his home group, I too went back.

[NMDemDist2]

7. i too, remember thinking the folks who claimed years of sobriety

*had* to be lying, or else they sure didn't drink like I did

now I are one :rofl:

[wildeyed]

9. In early sobriety, I used to have dreams

where I wept hysterically for what seemed like hours. That was the entire content of the dreams, crying; no prelude, no resolution. I used to wake up exhausted. But I guess, like you said, I was mourning the death of my old life and also probably beginning to process some of the feelings that I had been stuffing for so many years.

[SPKrazy]

10. First Actual Meeting

was with a friend

first time being around AA people who were 12 stepping me... was appropriately when I had a date with a girl (I was 21 she was a little younger) and rather than go out, she suggested we go swimming at her dad's. We did. So on the side of the pool her dad (recovering) a d00d named Dirk (recovering) her (recovering) and me (hungover as all get out and wanting a drink sooooo bad I could taste it and listening to them drone on about their drinking was making me thirsty). But some seed was planted, because a couple of years later, I knew that AA worked. I'd met these people that it had worked for. Oh, they'd invited me to a meeting after the poolside 12th step call/date (not even a kiss) and I'd said NO THANKS! and drove home as fast as I could and got something to drink on the way home.

at the first meeting I actually did go to I was with my best friend and we walked into a meeting and I ran into one of my professors who I'd had to talk to at least twice about missing his tests and retaking them, was sitting there. We both laughed, although I probably laughed about something different than he did?

:shrug:

:hi: