34 ans de sobriété active

" I got better, one day at a time, first at Smithers Alcoholism Rehabilitation Center in november 1975, then in meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous. Sometimes I suffered, but I did not drink.

I discovered in AA that I would never be alone again -- that I could get help and support within moments of stepping out of my front door or picking up a telephone. You cannot imagine the relief, the way the burdens roll off.

There is no therapy more powerful than just sitting in a meeting and listening to the lives of other people who, you realize, have all the same problems you do -- and then telling them about your own. In AA I have learned the meaning of mercy, and friendship, and understanding laughter, of giving a hand to others instantly, with no thought of reward. "

Nan Robertson is a Pulitzer-Prize-winning former reporter for the NEW YORK TIMES and the author of "GETTING BETTER: INSIDE ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS" .

Nancy Robertson was born in Chicago on July 11, 1926. She died on Oct. 13, 2009, in Rockville, Maryland., of heart disease.