>Mike,
>
>As someone who considers you a frend as well as a colleague, my first thought for you is FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>
>You have taken step one, the hardest and most challenging step of the twelve. Now get to a meeting today! No make that two meetings today. And make sure you are at at least one meeting everyday. Find yourself a sponsor and latch on to them for dear life, because my friend it is your dear life that lies in the balance.
>
>Here's a listing of meetings available in your area http://www.chicagoaa.org/meetings/.
>
>Best of luck, my thought and prayers are with you.
>

Thanks, Jim. You have always been one of the people I have respected most in this community, going back to my first days with that fancy new product FoxPro 2.0 <g>.

Thank you for the link. I am committed to starting some sort of treatment on Monday. My daughters will be here this weekend and I will be fine. I never drink when they are here, never. Monday, though, it's time to get serious. I will find a program. It probably won't be AA. I just don't want to deal with the Higher Power stuff. It's going to be hard enough dealing with the drinking problem without having to fight off the prosletyzing. I have no problem with anyone's religious beliefs, truly, but neither am I going to let anyone cram their beliefs down my throat.

I worked with a guy who was an alcoholic. Still is, I guess, but he hasn't had a drink since 1987. He also stressed the importance of going to meetings. The group he went to, and I swear I am not making this up, was called AA For Agnostics. (Or maybe it was AA For Athiests, one or the other). That was in the city of Chicago. I don't know if there are any of those around here. This is Bush Country.