During my final year of drugging, drinking, and anthing-ing, an incident occurred which I will remember always.  I had been working the night shift at a very busy bar in North Naples, FL.  My hours, 6-2 six nights a week, I tended a very busy bar, and played also my violin to sort of entertain the Peeps.

By the time I got to work, I was pretty much bombed, and by the end of the night (2 AM) I was speeded up like a jet plane.  Ten minutes of cleaning the lounge, actually took me two hours, as I drank whatever I wished–had to be able to tell customers what each brand of scotch tasted like, the difference in the essences of bourbon brands, and liqueurs–well I loved every single loving bottle of them!

Outside in the darkest of night, finally, I put my violin (worth about $60,000) on top my car, to find the key and unlock the vehicle.  About 10 non-traffic miles later, all the way downtown, something made me to reach over where my violin lay…and it was not there.  An incorrect flashback let me know, it must have dropped off the top of my car back at the bar, in the parking lot.

Oh my God! Someone could roll over it, not knowing what it was.  I made a fast two-wheeled U-Turn, raced back to the uptown lounge clocking 80 miles per hour, drove over the potholes, and parked.  Didn’t see my fiddle.  So it must have fallen out on the highway.  My heart was racing faster than the car…as i got out –to unlock the bar, go in and have a “nerve-quieting” drink (A glassful of vodka).

Guess what! I spied my violin sitting right there atop the car, just where I had placed it one-half hour before.  Even today 36 years after, I consider what was a miracle, at least to me.

Soon after, I stopped drinking (Loooong story).  It was the night before my first meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous.  And I stayed stopped, became what we call sober, began to help others in my own way, and tried to not die.  And one after another, the miracles began piling up in my life, in my mind, in my heart.

True, I tend to forget sometimes that it was God brought me here to AA, and He Who helped me along the way.  But it really was God working through YOU Peeps, which made the difference for me. I could not stay sober, ever…alone. It is the “WE” which saw me through the most difficult of times.  “WE” brought me to here, today, where I see myself happy, at PEACE, and Loving and Living.

It was not always thus, and may not always be this way, but for now, today, I shall enjoy the gifts God has granted me:  Sobriety, Family, Lots of Friends, Health, and yes, Happiness, and Peace.  These are mine. And you can have them also.  They are for the taking…Please accept them.

Love,

Steve E.