Saturday, June 09, 2007

A Closed Meeting

Rosa gladly went to A.A. with me last night. It was a closed meeting for alcoholics only.

"Don't say you're an addict," I told her quietly as we walked in and sat down.

Philip, our patriarch, came up to shake her hand and greet a newcomer before the meeting.

"Are you an alcoholic?" he asked Rosa.

"I drink a lot of beer," Rosa replied.

That was good enough in Philip's book I guess and the meeting began without Philip saying anything else about it. I sighed with relief.

"These A.A. people take that stuff so serious," Rosa said as we were driving home afterwards.

"They have to," I replied. "Many would die if they went back to drinking."

"I can understand that," Rosa said. "Cocaine would have killed me."

"Drinking's gonna get your ass too if you don't quit drinking those six-packs of Budweiser every day," I said as I smiled and pulled onto main street.

"Well, it is starting to worry me too," Rosa said.

I was so glad to hear her say that and realize the problem of cross addiction. It is so easy to substitute one substance for another. Maybe, Rosa will go with me to A.A. more often. She would be doing me a favor as well as her presence seems to subdue my social anxieties.

PS - Posted my grandmother's cheese straw recipe for Crusty Beef and others. Scroll down for it.

7 comments:

austere said...

Hi Andrew.
Am returning to read after long. Hope you've been good.

Josie Two Shoes said...

Wonderful news this is, Andrew! For Rosa to acknowledge that her drinking is becoming a problem is awesome, and that she would go along with you to AA - even better... what a great friend you are! I hope she'll keep going, it's win-win for both of you! I know it would break your heart if you lost her to addiction.

Northern Lights said...

i agree :)

amelia said...

That cheese straw recipe, which I wanted, is far from diet food!!!!

Looks yummy and I'll be trying it!

CRUSTYBEEF said...

Good for Rosa..there's a reason you two have met.
Have a Good evening and a even better nights rest and walk.
Always,
Crusty~

KYRIE said...

Andrew, I agree with you that u should take Rosa to more A.A meetings. Yes, it will do both u some good!
Andrew, good luck with ur support group this Monday and I hope even more people will come!
I was thinking tht one of these days maybe u could take ur mom to the support group meeting. I mean, she has gone through a lot and it would help her, u n the people who come 2 hv her share her experiences with her battle with her illness.
Well it is up to u. I understand sometimes parental presence can make one jittery. But I am sure she is proud of u n would love to see u in action in those meetings!

American Scot said...

I'm glad to have read your blog. I to, am in recovery.
and sober three years this month. I'm glad that here in Chicago people aren't as uptight with the whole addict alcoholic thing. As far as I'm concerned it's the same thing. I did a lot of drugs and drank a lot. Sometimes more of one than the other.

Anyhow, thanks for the read!