Over Cups of Joe

I and Wanda sat in the Waffle House late last night drinking cups of coffee and smoking after the late Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. She was trying to urge me to overcome my fears of the phone and to get a sponsor.

“Having a sponsor is the cornerstone of A.A.” She told me, very persuading.
I realize I have a hard time grasping the spiritual and religious aspects of A.A., but I do so enjoy the social aspects and the close camaraderie of the program. I guess I will just always have to take the good with the bad.
“I know,” I replied. “I realize how important it is. I just won’t call though. I have such terrible phobias surrounding the phone and will only talk to someone if I implicitly trust them and feel comfortable with them.”

I would have liked Wanda to be my sponsor, but a male-female sponsorship is a big taboo and no-no within A.A. Getting sober is tough and hard enough without adding the complications that can arise when dealing with the opposite sex.

“Have you talked to Phillip?” Wanda then asked me. “He is great at being a temporary sponsor and finding newcomers more long term sponsors.”

Phillip is kind of the patriarch at our local A.A. meetings. He has decades of sobriety and is there at every meeting and chairs many meetings as well.

“I don’t like Phillip,” I said, honestly, thinking of one incident when he ran off a newcomer when the newcomer revealed he had problems with drugs as well. “He is just too stodgy and set in his ways. I want someone that is not old enough to be my grandfather. His ‘singular of purpose’ mantra he so touts irks me.”

Wanda laughed and said she understood.

“He can be a stick in the mud sometimes, can’t he?” She said as she smiled warmly. “He means well though.”

“You took the words right out of mouth,” I replied, smiling in return.

Wanda paid for our cups of coffee and we stepped out into the parking lot to head home.

“I’ll see you tomorrow night at a meeting, right?” She asked.

“I’ll be there. I promise,” I replied as I got in my car.

Wanda told me goodbye and I drove on home feeling calm and collected. I realize I have a hard time grasping the spiritual and religious aspects of A.A., but I do so enjoy the social aspects and the close camaraderie of the program. I guess I will just always have to take the good with the bad.