What
happened to your sponsor, Ebby?
Answer
It was
Ebby who brought me
the message that saved my life and uncounted
thousands of others.
Because of
gratitude and old friendship, my wife Lois and I
invited Ebby to live at our home shortly after I
sobered up. The son of a well-to-do family in
Albany, he had never learned any profession so
he was broke and had to begin all over. These
were difficult circumstances, naturally. Ebby
stayed with us something like a year and a half.
Being intent on getting re-established in life,
he took little interest in helping other
alcoholics. Little by little, he commenced the
rationalization we have seen so often. He began
to say that if he had the right romance and the
right job then things would be okay. At length,
he fell by the wayside. He would not mind if I
tell this - it is a part of his story today.
For many years,
my old friend Ebby was on the wagon and off.
Sometimes he could stay sober for a year or
more. He tried living with Lois and me for
another considerable period but apparently this
was of no help. Maybe we actually hindered him.
As A.A. began to grow his position became
difficult. For a long time things went from bad
to worse.
About six years
ago the groups down in Texas decided to try
their hand. Ebby was shipped non-stop to Dallas
and placed in an A.A. drying out place. In these
new surroundings in Texas, far from his old
failures, he has made a splendid recovery.
Excepting for one slip which occurred about a
year after his arrival down there he has been
bone dry ever since. This is one of the deepest
satisfactions that has ever come to me since
A.A. started and many another A.A. can say the
same. (N.C.C.A. 'Blue Book,' Vol.12, 1960)
