aasharon90

Hi Im Sharon and Im an Alcoholic.

By the Grace of my HP and people
like you here in meetings like this
I havent found it necessary to take
a drink of alcohol since 8-11-90.

For that and you I am truely grateful.

It's been awhile since I last posted
here.

Sure, things in ur life change, circum-
stances....just whatever life sends
ur way.....

I moved back home to my awesome
hometown of Baton Rouge, La.
last December after a 10 yr extended
vacation, as i call it, living in Houston,
Tx.....

My HP sent my little family there to
grow and change and all was accomp-
lished....Then after much tears, prayers
and misery, i was returned home
to begin a new life.... ON MY OWN.

A 25 yr marriage, 2 awesome kids
later, 17 yrs sober...and here i am
growing and changing even more
so than i can imagine.....

As i take each day at a time, allowing
my HP to guide me and care for me....
I continue to remain teachable not
knowing exactly what He has in store
for me.

All i do know is...my recover and my
sobriety is THE MOST IMPORTANT
thing in my life today. Staying connected
to the Program of AA, following the
12 principles set down before me.

For with out a major purpose in life
which is to help the next recovering
member in AA achieve sobriety, then
I have nothing.

At the moment, i have to believe
that my HP set a new person in my
life to guide them...to share
my own ESH with them.....as
this person is set on the path
of recovery.

In all my 17 yrs sobriety I never
really sponsored anyone in
particular....in fact i feel like
i sponsor anyone who hears
the message or reads the
message either in meetings
or here in SR.

However today i have someone in
particular that was sent to me
to guide and share my own
ESH with....which is kinda
awesome....

To see the transformation....the
miracles of our awesome program
working is unbelievable.....

And all it is is....PASSING IT ON.

For that I am truely grateful.

The program of recovery works
if you work it.

Thanks for letting me share.

barb dwyer

thanks sharon - good to see ya again!!!

thought maybe the gators gotcha or somethin!

aasharon90

Thanks Barb....

I always know where to return to...
and thats my roots...the basics....
kinda good to be helping newcomers
because it allows us to remember
where we came from and where u
never want to return to....

When out and about just recently
I was able to admire the beauty of
the camps set along the bayou....

Just simply an awesome site....

Little pee-rows down the bayou....

SWEET..!

Moss covered trees ..possibly gators....lol

This is Cajun country....

LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT....

Jersey Nonny

Don't honestly know how you can differentiate one from the other. Sort of like, "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"

But, I think you would have to stop drinking first (which doesn't necessarily mean you're sober...just that you're not drinking). Once you get into "recovery" through the 12 Steps, or some other source, you start to become "sober". It's a process that takes patience, because it doesn't happen over-night.

I know a few people who quit drinking, but I wouldn't call them sober, because they never bothered to change through working a program of recovery. JMHO

Tazman53

Sharon I know my sponsee helps me stay sober, he gives me further purpose, he helps me to feel usefull, he gives me far more then I will ever be able to give him no matter how hard I try to give him freely what has been given to me. To watch him grow makes my heart soar, I will be giving him my 7 month chip this coming Friday and some how I know that he will pass it on to someone else in the future. He helps me to stay in today and to stay out of myself.

Sponsees to a sponsor are just as big a blessing as a sponsor is to a sponsee..... full circle!

Jersey Nonny

I know what you mean, Taz. It really is all about "passing it on".

Just an aside...I have to smile to myself when I see the word "sponsee". When I was newly sober, we were called "pigeons", and I never questioned it, because those who came before me were also called "pigeons". For some reason, someone took offense to the term, and suddenly everyone was a "sponsee". Ah, well...the times they are a'changin'. (And, what's in a name, as long as you're sober.)

Dee74

Being sober is a part of recovery, but recovery unfortunately isn't always a part of being sober

D

Jersey Nonny

Waddayaknow...I actually found something on the internet in reference to the expression "pigeon".

Quote:

13 October 2007
Why "pigeons"?
Kathy Lynne wants to know, "Why pigeons?" and adding, "I don't like that."

I don't remember. I do remember seeing something once about where the term came from and, after reading it, feeling that it's not the pejorative term I had previously thought. Where was that article? AAHistoryLovers? Oh yes, here's the post that asked a question similar to Kathy Lynne's and here's the one response it got.

To summarize, the term appears to have originated with Dr. Bob and was in use by 1940. Dr. Bob was heavily into using slang. He called Anne, his wife, "the skirt" or "the little woman" and a kiss "the slobber." When he learned that Benjamin Franklin [follow this link: it has excellent information] had once observed that drunks appeared "pigeon-eyed," it immediately followed that they must be "pigeons". He also referred to sponsees as "cookies." Despite the apocryphal and derogatory explanations one hears from time to time in the rooms of A.A.—that pigeons are called that because they fly around and **** all over everyone, or because if you give them a message they deliver it somewhere but never get the message themselves—the term was originally meant endearingly.

I actually use the term "sponsee" in most of my conversation. But I prefer "pigeon" (and use it more often in writing since I have time to think about it) because it's sort of metaphorical and more colorful rather than technically accurate. When I use it I certainly do not intend it to be derogatory.

Interesting bit of AA history.