What Happened to Our Group Binder?

As a longtime Al-Anon member who has attended numerous in-person meetings in two states, I was accustomed to the practice of the meeting chairperson using a binder to lead the meeting. Since joining the World Service Office (WSO) Staff and moving to Virginia Beach,...

The Reason I Came to Al-Anon

While I was having lunch with a new Al-Anon friend, she asked me, “Who brought you to Al-Anon?” It took me just seconds to respond. I brought myself to this program. You see, I have learned that no alcoholic, nor any other person, caused my actions, reactions, or...

My Quiet Half-Hour

“Just for today I will have a quiet half hour all by myself and relax.” I had somehow lost track of this wonderful suggestion from Al-Anon’s Just for Today bookmark (M-12). It’s not that I don’t have quiet half hours; I live alone. Rather, I had lost sight of the...

A Community of Understanding

Fourteen months ago, I was overwhelmed with anxiety and felt completely broken. My desire to control was off the charts as I watched my beautiful 38-year-old daughter—the mother of a precocious five-year-old and wife of a kind and loyal man—sink deeper into the depths...