Bobby M. AA Male

**Bob** (0:09)
I want to say good morning. My name is Bob, and I'm probably one of the most grateful alcoholics you'll ever meet.
Good morning.
We've set this Serenative Prayer, which calms me down. And I really want to thank the committee for inviting me, Rex, who called me, and we only met today, but it was nice meeting you this morning, Rex.
And to the speakers, my dear friend Karen Kelly Raff. Oh, Raff, what a wonderful experience. And my Al-Anon, who spoke very eloquently yesterday. I don't know, sometimes she turns into someone I don't even know.
Who is that woman? I live with her. Oh, my God.
Well, moving on.
I have fond memories of this conference, and I had the privilege to lead here. And on that roster was Clancy, Ed Mutum, and my guy out of Florida, Sandy Beach. And I was a part of that. And it was one of the most fulfilling experiences in my life, because I sit there and watch them, these great men who can't hardly stand each other.
It was so funny.
Ed ended up being one of my sponsors.
And I started, it was a lady that worked in our central office, and I was, her husband committed suicide. And for a year, she went through a hell of a time trying to reacrimate herself to coming back, and I worked with her. And so finally after that, she asked me to be her sponsor. So shortly after that, I had these women coming to me, asking me to sponsor them. And so I called Ed, and I said, Ed, these women are wanting me to sponsor them. I don't want to sponsor all these women. And Ed said to me, and he would call me every day, every day, this is Pastor Ed, and I love you, and there's nothing you can do about it. And you know, when you're having a hell of a day, especially on the job that I had, you're having a hell of a day that made all the differences in the world. And he said to me, you feed God sheep, Bobby. You can't tell God the kind of sheep to send you. And I stopped fighting. I have women that are sponsoring. I have men the requirement for me to sponsor them. They must have a woman in their life sponsor them. And they also have longevity. I don't have any new women. And the women all have 25 or 30 years themselves. But that was a great time in my life.
You get to this age and you get to a point in your life and this stuff takes on a different meaning. And I mean that because you know you got more time behind you than you got in front of you. And you try to make the best of that that you can do and be the best person and the best examples. And they always want it because I'm the oldest one in there. Yo, Pop, sit down. We'll take care of it. No, I don't want to sit down. I'm not gonna sit down. I had a friend of mine who died in the rooms of alcoholics, and I'm not sitting down. I sell tickets at my home group. I've been there 47 years. I have another home group, Wednesday Night Unity. It's a group I drug into from the streets, and I go to the VA Saturday, so I joined that group. I've been in those groups for 47 years. 47 years. And that's over July 26, 1978, and I have not drank, used any mood, mind, alter, and substance since. And I can't say my life has been phenomenal. No, because life shows up. And when life shows up, you have to deal with that. And sometimes it separates the boys from the men, because we talk a good game from the podium. Oh, we get eloquent and we can take you there. But then when the rubber hits the road, you know, when I don't know whether I have cancer or not, and I'm waiting from the diagnosis from the doctor, and easy does it come in so handy. Slow down, Bobby, slow it down. It ain't over yet. I had surgery on the 24th of February, and then I had this horrendous virus. It's just like it kept coming. And I called a brother of mine down in Texas, and Chuck and I are talking, and he said, life is life. Life is life, and life shows up, and it shows out, and you got a deal. And when you talk all this good stuff, and it's the right idea, and it sounds so wonderful, and yes, it does, but then it comes the time that you got a deal. Every marriage is not perfect. No, and when you got one of them, who wanted an Al-Anon?