And honestly, just knowing you guys are on here is effing cool.

That’s a great story, CQT. I stopped drinking five days before I went to Las Vegas for a wedding. I feel like it was the first time I had ever experienced the city. An amazing experience.

Either hold it early, before the Chatzy party starts or on a different internet chat (yahoo, skype) perhaps?

I got sober in a men’s homeless shelter, chain smoking and drinking non-stop rotgut java swill; it just goes to show the strength of the program that others can somehow manage to find sobriety in clean, well-lighted places.

Seriously though, what do you guys think about a Wordsmoker AA meeting in the chatroom? Open to all, brew your own coffee so it doesn’t suck, no hallowed halls of the Methodist church down the street, people being so nice it hurts your teeth sometimes but you’re nice back because you sincerely appreciate it… but I forgot about the seventh tradition… guess we could just put an extra dollar in the basket at our face meetings… umm… so… yeah. What do you guys think?

Curly, I would love to hear about your redneck God. In my mind, he’s named Bubba.

{insert girly piercing scream and unseemly jumping up and down}

Happy Birthday Vox! Just look H.O.W. beautifully you’ve grown; there is no greater gift I could wish for you than this happy, joyous, and free life.

Samuri, you’ll take these stale brownies and that tarry coffee and learn to suck the juice of sobriety off them just like millions before you. Hurmph, Dunkin’ Fancy Donuts. I tell you, kids in recovery these days…

One day, I’ll buy you both a cup of coffee and tell you about my redneck God…

Also, I wish like hell every goddamn day there were a Dunkin’ Donuts in this town. They’ve got coffee shops galore, two on every block, but no Dunkin’ Donuts.

See, my higher power is a prankster who loves to throw things into my path to shake me up and get my attention. The god of my understanding is a funny asshole who probably liked to do keg stands back in his undergrad days at Ohio State but now shows up at a church basement with his Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, waiting for me to show up for the meeting and not hit the snooze button again. Yeah, yeah, opiate of the masses and all that, but whatever – it keeps me sober.

Congratulations to you on sticking with the program despite your misgivings about higher power – it’s a very common sticking point for a lot of people in the program. It was for me too, and sometimes it still is. And turning my will over to a HP? Whew – very hard, but as it turned out, very rewarding in the end. When I can still manage to do it. I’m struggling with some little bullshit problem today that I can’t seem to let go of and it’s my fucking anniversary. Sigh. That “progress, not perfection” slogan they throw around? So true.

The key to accepting a higher power for me has been to not get bogged down in the religious aspect, but to keep in mind that there is something out there greater than myself, even if that just means the world at large or the group in the room. It helps me keep my perspective and an open mind.

The best part is that if you just keep showing up for meetings and keep talking honestly about what’s going on with you, misgivings and all, you really do get better. I can truly say that I’m a better person today than I was two years ago. My obsession with alcohol is gone, at least for today, and I actually care about the people and things around me. Two years ago, I don’t think I cared about anything. I didn’t want to live, but I was too scared to die. It was hell.

Last word of advice: Get a sponsor if you haven’t already. It really makes a huge difference. This is coming from a person who hates authority figures, so trust me, it really works.

Thank you for telling your story to us here. And congratulations on nearing the 90-day mark!