Thank you all very much, my sobriety makes it possible for me to be of maximum service to all those I can be.
A huge part of me staying sober is helping others in any way I can by sharing my experience, strength and hope.
Lilyflower brings out an excellent point, the best person to help a codie is a codie, they have been there and done that.
I know a lot of codies that go to OPEN AA meetings trying to understand us, I can appreciate that, and I am more then willing to offer those with questions an insight into what I as a recovered alcoholic can share from my experience.
That being said I will honestly admit that I do not understand codies, even when I was drinking I would never have put up with half of what many of you put up with from us, I can assure you that I, along with many other recovering alcoholics are thankful that some of you did, but once sober and recovering, we begin to see the hurt and pain we have brought to you all and it leaves us mystifyed that you did put up with even half of what we put you through.
There is a difference between a codie and an alcoholic though. We have no need or desire to understand a codie when we are drinking, the only thing we care about when we are drinking is how we can continue to manipulate you to allow us to continue to drink without driving you away, we do not have a need to know why you are the way you are. A codie, especially while thier alcoholic is still drinking has (at least from what I have seen) a need to understand us and why we do what we do....... I can not tell you why I did what I did, I can share with you merely what I was thinking when I was drinking and my feelings and thought processes when I was drinking and now that I am sober. I do this in the hope of opening some folks eyes to the fact that our drinking problem can only be addressed and resolved by us, there is nothing you can do to help us stop drinking except stop helping us drink by helping us function with less pain.
If you are a codie seeking recovery I strongly encourage you to seek out codies in recovery for help, I will continue to be more then happy to answer any questions you may have, but the only thing I can help you with in your recovery is to encourage you to get help from those who have have found recovery from the problems you are going through.