Well, I tell you, I hope we don’t have trouble like we did last night with this thing, uh. I was up in Canada one time. We gave my name and sobriety date, and the damn thing just flopped. Fell down, and it took them thirty-five minutes to ever get it right. Ooh. And you begin to wonder about things like that. As I look out, out in the group here tonight, uh, I see a few people who have heard me, uh, a few times, and, uh.. But every time I stand up a deal like this, what Tim went through last night reminded me of a story. I’ve told it many times. I’m gonna tell it again tonight. Uh, back in North Carolina several years ago, they had, uh, one of these conventions. They had a long-winded speaker. There’s some of them around. And, uh, and the first hour, this guy talked about twelve steps. The second hour, he got into twelve traditions. The third hour, he got into three legacies. And everybody left but one person, one man who kept sitting on the front row.

And of course, the speaker got concerned, wound up his talk, ran down from the podium, grabbed the man by the hand, says, “I want to ask you one question. Everybody left but you. Why’d you stay?” He said, “Hell, I’m the next speaker.” Well- You kind of know how I feel, I guess. Uh.. It’s good to be here, and, uh, I’m an alcoholic. My name’s Dave Cook. Hi, everybody. Hi, Dave. I’m a member of the Gratitude Study Group in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the Safe Haven Group down in Harkers Island, North Carolina. And, uh, my sobriety date is September the twelfth, nineteen fifty-seven. Ooh. And I’m very grateful for that sobriety. Uh, you know, uh- In some parts of the country, people kind of get resentful when you give your sobriety date. You know, out in Texas, if you don’t give your sobriety date, by God, they’ll shoot you.

And, uh, and there was an old-timer from East Texas named, uh, fellow, some of the people in here remember him, named Burton Crawford from Kilgore, Tex– Kilgore, Texas. And, and Burton had the best expression I’ve ever heard about giving your sobriety date. He’d say, “My name is Burton Crawford. I’m from Kilgore, Texas, and I’ve been sober ever since I can remember.” Well, you think about it, and that about covers the whole deal. No, I, I got sober down in Roanoke, Virginia, the old Central Group. And the second meeting I ever went to was a discussion meeting. And, uh, I really didn’t know what a discussion meeting was. They had thirteen or fourteen wicker chairs sitting in a circle. And I began to wonder what I was gonna say when it got to me. And it finally got to me, and the man who had become my first sponsor, although I didn’t know it then. Okay. I know it now, but I didn’t know it then. But, uh, he spoke up and says, “Give your name and your sobriety date.