Around – And Around – And Around

For those who are new to Alcoholics Anonymous…

You’re going to hear from folks who are called “chronic slippers.” They are not bedtime shoes, they are people who come and go, stay sober for a short time, relapse, come back etc. etc. etc.

Rob the Hat and old man Charlie used to tell a story about, of all names, a fellow named Mark who’d come into one of the Centereach groups. Mark would shake and bake for a while, stay sober for about three months, get to feeling better and then start to share about how he was thinking about drinking again. Then he would disappear.

A few months later Mark would reappear and go through the process once more. He’d shake and bake for a while, stay sober for about three months, get to feeling better then start to share about thinking about drinking, then disappear again.

After the third time Mark did this the oldtimers in the group gathered to see what ideas they could come up with to help Mark. The next time Mark did this, as he began to share about thinking about drinking, Rob, Charlie and a few others handed Mark a fifty dollar bill and told him that as long as he was going to drink again to do it up good. This scenario happened twice more.

The third time the group handed Mark a fifty dollar bill and told him to do it up good, he looked at them and yelled “F’ YOU!!!” Rob, Charlie and the others smiled as they said “Now you’ve got it!”

It has been my experience by listening and observing folks who keep slipping that there are consistencies in their stories and how they speak. One thing they invariably say is that they have been around AA for however long they choose to tell us.

Be a Don M. penguin – get in the middle!