Years ago I was at an A.A. meeting in Miami in a mostly Spanish speaking neighborhood called Little Havana. On the wall were the usual...

STEP 4 - Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. Ahhhh. Step 4. This step can feel so daunting that many people...

Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think. Jean de La Bruyere. 1645-1696 The other night I went to see the...

In the 1940s and early fifties my father worked as a lifeguard on Fire Island, New York. If you are familiar with Fire Island you will...

Ever since high school I’ve kept a journal. A diary of sorts. Things I’ve experienced. Places I’ve been. Thoughts I have been jotting...

One of the first things I learned about in A.A. was the concept of a "God Box". I would hear people say "I just couldn't handle it so I...

There’s a forlorn little liquor store (or “package store” depending on where you live) that I pass several times a week on the way to my son's school. The "crappy packy" as I like to call it is an anomaly in our lovely, landscaped town. It's situated on a busy but well-maintained road and stands out like a sore thumb against the lush properties on either side of it. The rundown structure sits on ancient dusty asphalt, looking like a parched and defeated old sharecropper from

תודה Toda Raba (Thank you very much in Hebrew) At one of my favorite A.A. meetings in Manhattan there are 2 rooms, the front room and the...

Happiness is an inside job. William Arthur Ward American writer 1921-1994 The other day a friend of mine kept asking me what time it was....

My friend Margaret says that for her the three stages of drinking went like this: Magic - Medicine - Misery. It was exactly the same for...

"Don't define your world in black and white. There is so much beauty hiding amongst the greys." - Unknown The other day my cellphone rang...

Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve...

This morning I woke up with a profound hangover. Not from drinking or drugging, thank God, but from lemon pound cake and the worst form...

When I was newly sober and trying desperately to stop drinking and using drugs I had what I liked to call my "get out of jail free"...

Cling to the thought that, in God's hands, the dark past is the greatest possession you have--the key to life and happiness for others....

Headline: Alcohol Is Most Harmful Drug followed by Heroin and Crack. Alcohol is the most harmful drug to the drinker and others overall,...

In real life I have a career as a photographer. I love my job. It's fun, challenging and exciting. But I also have another "life" in...

When I hear the word guru I imagine a mystical yogi with a shaved head from a faraway land. A place of hazy mountains and smoky pyres,...

Before the year 2020 and the arrival of Covid-19, I don't think many Americans spent a lot of time thinking about the global pandemic of...

The other night a mean old feral cat snuck into our house through the doggie-door. It was a beast. All puffed up and angry, scarred by...