I am extremely grateful to Dottie, and I am extremely grateful to the fellowship for allowing me to be here with you tonight. And I know you’re in for a real treat when you’re gonna hear Dottie S. I’m an alcoholic, and my name is Dottie Shore, and I’m a very famous drunken speaker. Trust me, I can do that. And I’m impressed sitting alongside of Bernie and his beautiful wife, and Lorraine, and all of you. Isn’t it nice to be impressed? I thank you from the bottom of my heart for having me here. It’s lovely. I’ve spoken here before. Either I didn’t finish the job or you love me enough to have me back, but whatever it is, I’m here, and I love that. You know, Chuck asked me to speak, and I’ve talked to Larry on the phone, and I know people now within a very short time that I never would have known before. With Lorraine, it’s been kind of special. She met me last time I was here about two, four years ago.

We spent the day, and we spent the day again to-today, and, uh, we’re lifelong friends. We’ve been together about two days in a lifetime, but it’s– that’s what AA is all about, isn’t it? You know, when you hear the 12 Steps read over and over and over, and the 12 Traditions read over and over, and we must do that because, uh, you only rel-you know, relate or get but about one-tenth of what you’re listening to. And so the repetition is very important. But if you’re not careful, you’ll find yourself going someplace in your mind. Now, I’m not self-obsessed, you understand. I don’t usually think about me. And one night in a meeting several years ago, I realized the 12 Steps had been read totally, and I hadn’t heard one of them. I’d gone someplace in my mind. And a higher power kind of nudged me and said, “You better listen.

That’s what got you sober.” And so I made a vow that night that I would close my eyes and I would listen to whoever was reading the 12 Steps because if you love them as I do, you’ll get maybe a different emphasis on a different word. So the very first night that I started listening, I heard someone say, “The only requirement for AA membership is a desire to stop stinking.” Now, that was very interesting. And a couple nights later, I heard someone say, “We’ll now have Joe read the 12 Positions of Alcoholics Anonymous.” And someone said, uh, “Animosity is the spiritual foundation of our tradition.” Please know, darlings, I’m not making fun of anyone, but these people would read and go right on reading and never realize it. And I know I’ll probably say something here tonight, and I don’t realize I’ve said it. But as I was to pick up these little gems as years went by, I got, I got– kind of collected them. I heard someone read one night, uh, “Many of us exclaimed, ‘What an odor.