A strange but dysfunctional family are we.....

I'm finally upright. Off the couch and bed, going back to work tomorrow , am still on two antibiotics, but slowly getting back on my feet. About a week ago I was at an AA meeting when one of my favorite peeps mentioned that he was so glad we were all together. We are his family. He said I was the sister he never had, and so and so was a brother, and so and so was like a dad to him in so many ways and it got me to really thinking about the fellowship of AA. We are like a happy dysfunctional family. We understand each other, we lift one another up, we share so we know we aren't alone and we don't judge one another. When I sit in those rooms I'm not Liz the mom, Liz the wife, Liz the co-worker, Liz the daughter, Liz the friend, I'm Liz the alcoholic. It doesn't matter how good or bad the day has been I can always show up and be welcomed by my fellow brothers and sister in AA. I love my fellow AA's. We may be dysfunctional but we are also survivor's. The young seventeen year old was back at my Thursday night meeting. We were all so glad to see him, and when it came his turn to talk he shared part of his story. It turns out that like many of us he tried to quit drinking and drugs numerous times on his own. He's been in and out of rehab many times and likes the courage he gets from being drunk or high. Like so many of us he's not comfortable in his skin. He asked to go to AA over a year ago and his parents said, "No way, you'll just sit in meetings with old people talking about drinking". Well excuse me I maybe 42 but I don't consider myself "old" and my fellow AA's and I don't just sit around talking about drinking. We work the steps, we rebuild our lives one piece at a time, and as a family we are there to keep each other in check. Before Christmas my sponsor and I were meeting when a fellow AA peep walked in and really needed to talk. He sat down and poured out his heart, that he was on the way to the store to buy a bottle of vodka and for some reason he swung by the club. We sat and talked to him for over two hours and the urge left him, and he slowly felt better. That's what we do in AA. We are there for each other, we understand each other. The 17 year old went on to say that after another year of never getting better his parent's finally said he could try an AA meeting. He said he's been coming for over two weeks and he feels so much better. He doesn't feel like using when he's bored. And if he gets squirrelly he gets himself to a meeting. He has a long future ahead of him and I hope the program works for him. For now we're just content on opening up our arms and letting him join our dysfunctional but happy family......