When I heard someone share this from the podium in a meeting one day, I was struck with an immense feeling of gratitude for all I have been given in recovery. As I write this this morning, I am on a business trip in Atlanta, GA, having been flown in by a company to work with their employees. I am highly respected (and paid) today. This is a sharp contrast to the unemployed (and unemployable) thief I was when I crawled into the rooms many years ago. Every area of my life has been transformed as well.
Today, I have meaningful relationships that are healthy and mutually fulfilling. I have a fellowship of people who trudge the road of happy destiny with me. Sincere people who would be there for me if I needed them. I am very happily married to a wonderful woman who loves and accepts me for who I am. I also have close friends outside of the program who respect and value my opinion and me, theirs. Compare this to the lone wolf who had been abandoned by most people, including myself.
But most of all, recovery has given me something I didnt even know I wanted or could have: peace and serenity. I feel comfortable in my own skin today, something I never had before. All this comes from my relationship with a God of my own understanding. Contrast that with the confirmed agnostic and sometimes atheist who came into the rooms all those dark, drunk days ago. I have more, so much more, in my life today, and I owe it all to the program of Alcoholics Anonymous. Everything I have, and that I am, is truly the property of A.A.
