Last night, I had one of those drunk dreams. You know the kind I’m talking about. You thought you were at a party and suddenly you realized you had a “bit too much,” as we used to say. Maybe a recollection was thrown in of an old extra-curricular activity, a car wreck, or a run-in with your spouse or employer, or the sheriff. I couldn’t work my way out of this parade of sleepy nightmare horribles. It felt like a real drunk, but suddenly, it ended. An overwhelming feeling of relief came over me. I awoke. It was all a dream! I was still “clean and sober!” But it was disturbing, and the recollections of those past horrific days prompted by my nightmare stuck with me the whole morning.

I don’t keep track of these “drunk dreams,” but I seem to pick up one of these nightmares every couple years or so. They aren’t tied to any event or number of meetings I’d made that month, or some incident that reminded me of one of my more notorious drunks. However it came about, it was just an overwhelming embarrassment of “the old days” -- before those moments of surrender and the early days of the Program, and the emergence of a strong belief that this time I was going to work it -- a resolute belief in that old saying, “It works if you work it.”

I guess we reluctantly should remember those “thrilling” days of yester-year replayed in these dreary drunk dreams.

The Big Book promises in our recovery our lives will be “happy, joyous and free” and reminds us of that healing Grace of our Higher Power. 

It is important for us to remember above all else, that by adhering to the Program, the future is indeed bright, that our past is the past and need not be repeated if we but go to meetings, read the Big Book, and reach out to those still suffering.  

So, it’s just a dream; sleep well tonight and wake up free and go to a meeting.

Jim A/St. X Noon, Cincinnati