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John stood in front of the crowd. He had always been nervous with public speaking, but this time he was even more nervous. His throat was dry, and he continued to take sips of his water. John never spoke in front of the crowd during his time in AA, but he felt that to fully heal, he needed to do this.
“Hi, my name is John and I’m an alcoholic,” John said nervously.
“Hi John,” the crowd said.
John took another sip of water.
“I had an incident take place last night. As some of you are aware, I lost my wife not too long ago. Her death has been exceedingly difficult for me, but I had to be strong. I let my emotions eat away at me, but I had to be strong.”
John took another sip of water and closed his eyes for a moment to hold back his tears. He looked up and saw Mike in the back.
“I could not be strong anymore, so I distanced myself from my daughter. Last night, I bought a bottle of Vodka and adhered to my demons.”
John put his hands on the podium, bent his head down, and took a breath.
“As I was about to open the bottle, my daughter came in the car. She held my hand and reassured me that everything was ok. I cried on that young lady’s shoulder for a while. When she went back into house, I opened the bottle. I then told my demon that he will never have me again and dumped that bottle down the drain,” John said.
The crowd clapped and congratulated John for being stronger than his demons. He saw Mike smile in relief.
“Although I continue to be sober for all these years, I give the credit to my daughter. She once again saved me from these demons. I could not be any happier to have her in my life. I hope everyone here will have something or someone to help them get through the dark days,” John said as he left the podium.
When the meeting was over, John went out for coffee with Mike. They talked about the sessions John missed. Mike told John how proud he was that he went up in front of the crowd. He then arrived home, hugged Janet, and thanked her for being there for him. She hugged him back tightly.