As I write this I am 41. Yes I’m in prison, but that does not matter. My friend is on the 90 meetings in 90 days kick and that’s good for him. I’m on the meetings everyday and sometimes 2. That way when I get released it is part of my thinking. People say that in prison it’s easy to go to meetings cause there is nothing else to do! Well, that’s true, except, I’m in this program and also High School, and some other programs so I’m pretty busy. So I go cause I need to. I first came into A.A. 30 years ago, so, by the time I was 11 I was already an alcoholic and on my way to being a drug addict. I see the board soon and want to make sure that A.A. is a major part of my life upon release! Let me explain my reasoning. I can go to a meeting a day or whatever I need to remain sober, which amounts to about 7 hrs a week, or I can sit in Prison for 24 hrs a day for however long until my release, and I do know that the stays usually get longer and longer. And I am sick and tired of holidays and birthdays locked up. I am sick and tired of expensive phone calls. But mostly, I am sick and tired of being controlled by chemicals. Thank you God for keeping me sober today. I have been stuck on step 4 for, oh, 30 years and I am happy to finally say that I have completed it as of today, 1/7/2018. And it was by me letting God guide me instead of the other way around that this was possible. And as a result I have forgiven myself, thus opening the door for me to love myself! Now I can truly love everyone else in my life, and society.

-Aaron T.