Don't drink even if your ass is on fire!

I hope I will never forget my first A.A. meeting which was where I heard Louise say, "Don't drink even if your ass is on fire."  The meeting was a downtown Boston Sunday afternoon meeting at Emmanuel Church on Newbury Street.  Big old room, some actives, some street people, some patients from the mental health center and the gamut of other folks one might expect at an urban A.A. meeting.

I was so sick "rattling and rolling," shaking and sweating, coming off a five day binge, that I could only half remember.  Louise looked beatific and calm (she reminded me of those wonderful women you see coming out of beauty parlors on Saturday afternoon) and she was knitting and certainly didn't look like an alcoholic.  All I remember about what she said was, "Don't drink even if your ass is on fire.  You don't have to drink even if your ass is on fire."

I didn't know what she was talking about.  I was so sick I wondered if your ass could catch on fire.  But I've never forgotten her saying that, seemingly over and over like a mantra, and now it makes sense.  You don't have to drink even if your ass is on fire.  You don't have to drink no matter what is happening in your life or going on around you.