“I GOT SOBER AND FOUND A NEW KIND OF FRIENDSHIP.”
“I didn’t have to be nice, and no one tried to change me. In fact, these guys seemed to accept me exactly as I was”
WHEN I GOT SOBER IN 2017, my new AA sponsor, a tall, goofy painter named Kip, invited me to a men’s meeting in the basement of a church. I arrived early, shook some hands and sat nervously in the circle of folding chairs.
Soon the room was filled: 25, maybe 30 men of all ages. The space boomed with their laughter. There were hairy, macho men sitting with thin, tattooed hipsters, and suited business types grabbing coffee and cookies for old men with walkers. There was even a priest who sat in the corner. Everyone called him Father.
It took me about five minutes to realise how scared I was
