***FOBWLetter Mailbag

From: donna s<ds9090@yahoo.com>
Subject: Birthday 2
Hi
My name is Donna and I am a Alcoholic. I love reading the FOBW letters and
get much insight. I enjoy all the websites that are posted and the little
sayings.
Reading other peoples personal stories always is a plus it helps to see that
we are not alone. here is my website I started 2 years ago.
https://members.tripod.com/ds9090 This is my second time in the rooms ( I
say this as this time I<M IN not around) I didn't want it when I came in 13
years ago. Today is my 2 year Birthday. Jan. 30 1999 is my sobriety date.
Jan. 12 is my Birthday. I surrendered to this disease on Jan 12 ( my 42
Birthday) but did not return to the rooms of AA till Jan 30th. That is the
date I use for my sobriety date. I am so enjoying the journey. I make
meetings and have a spunky ole sponsor who keeps me on the right path and
many special wonderful Friends today who know when I am having a bad day or
need a push. I am so Grateful to them and this fellowship, as it has saved my
life just for Today. I also for the first time in my life, I have been
traveling out of State to AA conventions .. if not for the program this would
NOT be possible. Thank you all for being apart of my life Today God Bless
Donna S

HAPPY 'BIRTHDAY'!!!! Donna, I have been thinking about you a lot today--congratulations on this YOUR special day-your two year anniversary. I hope this card brings a smile to your face--because you have brought many smiles to mine. May God continue to bless you and guide you as you share with others. Your Kentucky sandy

Hi Donna: Congratulations and loads of love today on 2 years of sobriety. That is quite an accomplishment and it certainly is true that this is a blessed gift given by the One who watches lovingly over you. It's a privilege to have you on my pathway of recovery and you generate the power of example that I try and follow in the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. I wish you many many more, One Day At A Time...and may all your dreams come true. May you continue on your journey and ever see the love and beauty of God and Spirit in everything and everyone that you come across. In love and friendship, Harold -- You are invited to visit my web site: http://www.homestead.com/hsutton/index.html ..."Inner Thoughts And Visions" This web site is viewed by many Non Alcoholics and therefore, I safeguard the tradition of Anonymity. Please respect my anonymity...

Happy Anniversary

Donna

The Present

It is a loving, living God that has let us know that the only place that
life exists is in the present. God or what ever you percieve the power to
be resides there. That is the reason things get better for us when we are
in it. It's why "one day at a time" works.

your friend in sobriety

tom e..

savanna,il

Hi Donna

Congratulations & best wishes on your Sobriety Anniversary. One day at a time it works, and we are the living proof of that.

Diana

Auckland, New Zealand

sbr September 9, 1980

From "Long-term Hope:"

"The beauty of A.A. lies in knowing
that my life, with God's help, will improve.
The A.A. journey becomes richer, the
understanding becomes truth, the dreams
become realities -- and today becomes
forever."

c. 1990, Daily Reflections, page 167

Congratulations on your AA anniversary !!!!

How's it feel to be a miracle?

"The age of miracles is still with us. Our own recovery proves that!"-

Alcoholics Anonymous - A Vision for You - pg. 153

Tom C. from Troy, NY

(10/29/95)

"Walk softly and carry a Big Book"

"Acceptance is not submission; it is acknowledgment of the facts of a
situation, then deciding what you're going to do about it."
-- Kathleen Casey Theisen

Hello Donna, Happy Birthday From Kemah, Texas! Keep coming back. Troy W. dos 12/28/69 -- "Some day, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides, and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of Love, and then, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire." --- Tielhard de Chardin --- -- "I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess." --- Martin Luther --- -- "Without memory, there is no healing. Without forgiveness, there is no future." --- Archbishop Desmond Tutu --- -- "Whatever we have we must hold with open hands, for it is only a gift, loaned to us for a season." --- David Allen, M.D. in 'Shattering The Gods Within' --- -- Prayer For the Victims of Addiction O blessed Lord, you ministered to all who came to you: Look with compassion upon all who through addiction have lost their health and freedom. Restore to them the assurance of your unfailing mercy; remove from them the fears that beset them; strengthen them in the work of their recovery; and to those who care for them, give patient understanding and persevering love. Amen. --- Episcopal Book Of Common Prayer --- -- "If you understand, things are just as they are; if you do not understand, things are just as they are. --- Zen proverb ---

DONNA,

IN MAY 1936, after a prolonged period of alcoholism, my friends, my associates, my superiors, and those people who really loved me in spite of embarrassments too numerous to mention, finally left me because they had come to the conclusion that I didn't have any idea of doing or trying to do the right thing.

I was a spineless individual who didn't care a rap for anyone or anything-I was hopeless and knew it-and then in my extremity, The Divine Comforter, "Truth" came to me in a barroom where I had spent the major portion of six weeks.

The Divine Comforter, in my experience, came in the guise of a former drinking companion whom I had assisted home on several occasions. Because of physical infirmities brought about by alcoholic success, he had been unable to walk a distance of three blocks to his home unassisted, when I last saw him. Now he approached me, and to my amazement he was sober and appeared greatly improved in physical condition.

He induced me to take a ride with him, and as we rode along told me of the marvelous thing that had come into his life. He had more than a practical idea of my difficulties, he also had a logical and practical idea as to how they might be overcome.

He started the conversation by explaining acute alcoholism and stated very bluntly that I was an alcoholic. This was news to me in spite of the fact that I had promised everybody East of the Mississippi, if they would take time to listen, that I was thro ugh with drink. At the time I made these promises, I honestly wanted to quit drinking, but for some unknown reason hadn't seemed able to. He told me why I failed.

He then suggested that I accompany him to a local doctor who had been helpful to him. It took forty-eight hours of persuasion and quite a few drinks to fortify myself, but I finally agreed to go. The doctor turned out to be one who had been an alcoholic himself, and in gratitude for the release he had found and because he understood the true meaning of the phrase "Brotherly Love" was spending a great portion of his time helping unfortunate individuals like myself.

With the help and advice of these two individuals and two or three associates, I was able, for the first time in two and a half years, to stay sober for six weeks, and then disastrously tried the beer experiment. For some time I couldn't get hold of myself lf, but gradually came out of hiding and exposed myself again to this influence which had been so helpful.

July 2, 1936, I again contacted the two individuals, and since that day I have never had a drink. However, because of the difficulties I encountered as the result of the beer experiment, I was unable for some time to find reality in this new way of life. I was doubtful, fearful, full of self-pity, afraid to humiliate myself.

This unreality lasted until December 11th, when I was faced with the absolute necessity of raising a sum of money. For the first time came the realization that I was faced with a difficulty from which I seemed unable to extricate myself. Of course, I to ok time out to bemoan the fact that "after all I'd done, this had to happen to me" but on the advice of my wife, I reluctantly went to a banker.

I told him my story completely. I went to him believing that my need was money. I went there as a last resort to attempt to pry it loose to meet my needs. My need was not money, but again I had been led to the proper source. After having related my story to the banker, who knew my reputation not only as an alcoholic but as an individual who didn't pay his bills, he said, "I know something of what you are trying to do, and I believe you are on the right track. Are you right with the Father who knows your needs before you ask? If so, you are not dependent upon this bank or any individual in it, or any rules by which we operate, because your help comes from an ever present and all powerful Father. I am going to do everything I can to secure this loan for you. However, I don't want anything that happens here to throw you off the track, I want you to leave here feeling that you have done everything you could to secure those funds, and go about your business. Your business is business with God's work. I don't know whether that calls for you to go and collect a bill, sell some new contract, or to sit quietly and pray, but your Father knows and if you will but permit Him, He will direct you."

I had again found reality. My needs were met from another entirely unexpected source.

The manifestations of this ever present Power in my experience since 1936 are too numerous to mention. Let it suffice to say that I am profoundly grateful for the opportunities I have had of seeing and knowing "TRUTH." Paul S. (Akron)

Greetings Donna, I realize I'm a day early but, let me be one of the first to congratulate you on your Sobriety Anniversary! I'll have a virtual cup of coffee and a greeting waiting for you at: http://www.aahistory.com/cake.html Yours in the Fellowship, Doug B. Riverside, California