Hi, Terry here, a grateful alcoholic.

At a meeting last Sunday, we covered Step Four. I laughed as I looked back on the fear I'd had as I tried to do that Step perfectly. It was only through sharing experience, strength, and hope that I finally understood it. So it is for all my program work. What seemed insurmountable at the time, be it waiting through a craving, dealing with my doubt, or struggling with my spiritual growth -- each taught me things I needed to know and I wouldn't have had the courage or hope if it wasn't for you. You share how you were, what happened, and how you are today. All along a spectrum, struggling, relapsing or not. And in your struggles, in your stories, I find inspiration and lessons. I find most of all that I am honored by your real honesty. I was carping once that quoting the Big Book, or lecturing, drives me nuts, because I can always read, or listen to tapes, or whatever. But I want you all to know that you bring to this room a presence, a story, a part of something in your life that reaches out to me and really changes my life because it's not theory. It is how you have encountered your Higher Power, and helps me see that even in the toughest of times, I can too. It's hope -- and it's part of why I want what you have.

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