Told the Judge His Kidnapper Looked Like a Cross Between ZZ Top and Jesus 🤣 — Cornbread A.

This reading is based on a passage from page 29 of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, each individual. In our personal stories, it describes in their own language and from their own point of view the way they establish their relationship with God. These give a fair cross-section of our membership and a clear-cut idea of what has happened in their lives. We hope no one will consider these self-revealing accounts in bad taste. Our hope is that many alcoholic men and women are in our room tonight and listening later on 8abluechipspeakers.org desperately in need will hear our speaker and we believe that it is only by fully disclosing ourselves and our problems that any of us shall be persuaded to say, yes, I am one of them too. I must have this thing. And tonight we have my friend Cornbread who's going to be telling his story. Cornbread? Cornbread, if that's what I'm going to call him. I've known Cornbread for quite a while. I've been a real good friend. He's been there when I've been in need. He's pretty crazy. But he does work a good program. The big thing is he does a lot of service work. He works with a lot of other guys. So I look forward to hearing his story again. And once again, I'm glad he's here to do some service work, which he's... always seems to be, you know, putting a hand out to help somebody. And that's a big part of recovery as far as I'm concerned. So anyway, without further ado, I'm going to give you Cornbread. It's a little softer and more than I thought it was going to be. I'm Cornbread and I'm an alcoholic. Come on over here. Thanks, Mike. There's a Home Group member from my Home Group. You've got to love them. So last I'm riding today, it's 6-28-06. And I am a Home Group member of the Thursday Night Men's Meeting here at NAVA. And... Uh... Uh... Uh... Uh... Got sober with some old-timers and now they're really old. Glad you're here, Mike. Anyway, I, uh... So I got, uh... I have a mother and a father. It's supposed to be kind of a joke. I think we all do. But anyway, uh... At a young age, um... My father, uh... and my mother were having some, uh... difficulties. And, uh... They're both alcoholics. And my... My dad is a deputy fire chief. And, uh... Uh... County of, uh... Brunswick, Georgia. And, uh... My mother is a, uh... Professional, uh... Alcoholic. And, um... My dad... Um... Said that, uh... He was going to get sober. And my dad married, uh... My mother twice. Um... She's laid back. It's fine, in my opinion. But, uh... Anyway, they, uh... My dad decided that he wanted to get sober. And my mother was against it. And, uh... She did not want to get sober. And my dad said, either you get... Go to treatment. Or, uh... We're divorcing again. For the second time. And, uh... My mother done, which is... What I'd have done in her mindset. So I don't hold it against her. And, um... She... They got a divorce. And my mother moved away. I was six years old. My mother moved back to Canton, Ohio. And, um... I've been there ever since. Um... In and out of recovery is all I can say for that one. My father has continuously stayed sober. Um... I'm guessing he's got about 30 years sober now. And, um... I'm very grateful. Uh... And I have a sister that is a full-blood sister. So from the same mother and father. And I have a half-brother from, uh... One of my dad's wives. Um... My dad's only been married nine times. Not a big deal. Um... The state of Georgia has clarified that he's got one more... One more marriage left. And, uh... He will be retired. Um... You know, coming ain't easy. You know what I'm saying? Um... Anyway. So, uh... No, I did not father my father's prince. I've got married one time. And divorced. And, uh... With my current soon-to-be ex-wife, Amy. I was just bullshitting. I'm just kidding. Um... Been with Amy for five years. So... Anyway, I'm blessed. Uh... But anyway, let's get back to the... To the media. To the story. So... At a young age, I discovered, uh... To be honest with you, cigarettes was one of my main... You know, when I was young. Uh... My dad, when he was married to one of his current wives. I can't remember which one. But one of those wives. And, uh... She wanted him to quit cigarettes. So he said, Alright, I'm quitting. I quit. Well, I knew he didn't quit. He was sneaking. So he would sneak cigarettes. So he kept his cartons of cigarettes hidden in the truck. And I knew where them cigarettes were. So I started smoking. Smoking cigarettes. So when I'd done that, I knew... And I knew my dad didn't want me smoking. But I knew that sucker couldn't say nothing. So he'd look at me and I'd say, You run your mouth, big boy. You ain't quit smoking hell. So he couldn't say nothing. I had him... You know, that's some of that alcoholism shit I had in me. But anyway, it worked because he didn't say nothing. It's a shame because now I wish I didn't smoke. Because I'm still smoking cigarettes currently. But, um... Anyway, that was kind of the cycle of the behaviors. I guess. But I can look back and see some of the behaviors. That kind of activity. I discovered alcohol young. I was probably anywhere from 12 to 13 years old when I discovered alcohol. I did know that I could fit in really well if I drank. And I could talk to females really easy. And if I didn't, it just wasn't as easy. So that really sparked an interest in me. Even though I would puke and hold the commode. And, you know, I'd never do this again kind of thing. It didn't matter. The next day, I kind of forgot that whole scene. So, that's kind of how it began. I like to tell a lot of the funnies when I tell my story. Because I know when people tell their story, they're kind of boring. I kind of want to go to sleep or feel bad to get up. So, trust me. Put on your seatbelt because here it comes. So, at a young age, I learned that these behaviors from drinking and in school and stuff, I would really misbehave and do stupid things. Well, my dad was a deputy fire chief. And so, remember, I got away with a lot of this stuff just because he was known as the deputy. He worked at Fleet Tech, so he trained police officers. So, I was in kind of a bubble. And at this age, when you're in the politics of all that stuff, they kind of slap you on the wrist. You know, don't do that again kind of stuff. So, I got away with some stuff that you won't get away with today. One was that I had decided that I was going to steal a car. And it was going to be a nice one. So, I stole a Camaro. T-tops. Big motor. And I was a big shot. So, I stole this car. And I went down a dirt road. And long story short, I ended up fishtailing and wrecking this car. So, I would run in front of the scene. Police would catch me or whatever. So, they take me to the precinct and call my dad. Dad gets down there. He said, what happened? I said, well, Dad, I was kidnapped. He said, cool. Stick to that. So, I did. So, I got me a public pretender. Whatever you call it. And I was just hoping it would be a good one that I can scheme. And it was. And she asked me what happened. And I told her I was kidnapped. And I told her the whole story. And I'm going to tell you the rest of it in a little bit. She says, okay. She says, you'll walk out of here clean. And I said, great. So, here comes court date. And my dad was like, boy, I'm telling you, son. I said, Dad, I'm telling you. I was kidnapped, brother. I was kidnapped. So, we get to court. And the judge had called my case. So, I get up there. And he says, son, what happened? I said, well, sir, I was kidnapped. And he says, well, what did he look like? I said, man, he had like a long beard, long hair. It was kind of gray. Older guy. And he says, well, he said, I know who it is. And I thought, great, man. I'm out of this one. I knew I'd come. I knew I'd skate out of it. He says, cross between ZZ Top and Jesus. He says, cross between ZZ Top and Jesus. He said, it was not funny to me, boy. So, anyway. So, I didn't get out of it. So, I got 10 years probation. Not really. I mean, that's what they said. But I never really got it. So, anyway. So, my behavior just kept on getting worse. I mean, I'd skip school. I'd be drunk. I'd be high on Xanax and marijuana. I'd skip school. Outlet mall back then. Outlet mall. So, when I'd skip school, I'd have to, if I seen a fire truck, I had to go run and hide. Because my dad was their boss. And they knew me. They called, what did they call me? Can you remember? Lefty. That's what they called me at the fire department. It was Lefty. They said, if you were going to do the right thing, Lefty was steering to the left. And that's what they called me. It was Lefty. So, if I seen a fire truck, I had to haul ass because I knew they were going to call my dad. And I'm trying to keep my, I'm trying to keep my language on a T, but it's hard to do for me. But, so anyway, so I'd always get caught. Well, this time, I had managed to escape everybody on this skipping school day. And I'd actually passed out on the bench. I was messed up. And I thought, boy, I heard some speakers coming. Well, my dad had 16 speakers and two boosters and a single cab pickup truck. And my dad would be blaring it like ZZ Top, you know, that guy that kidnapped me. ZZ Top. ZZ Top. ZZ Top. ZZ Top. ZZ Top. ZZ Top. ZZ Top. ZZ Top. ZZ Top. ZZ Top. ZZ Top. ZZ Top. ZZ Top. ZZ Top. ZZ Top. ZZ Top. I could hear it coming. So I heard it. So I thought, oh, boy. So I took off. Well, I didn't know he'd actually seen me. I thought he didn't because he didn't even stop. And he knows where he's seen me. But I jumped in a dumpster. So he used that for his own entertainment purposes. So once he went by and I knew he was gone, I jumped out of the dumpster and ran home to catch the bus if it was coming into the house. And so I act like I got off the bus, you know. I just got out of school. So I walk in. And my dad. My dad's acting like he's asleep on the couch. And he just got kind of. He said, how was school today? And he kept sniffing in his nose like he was doing cocaine or something. I was like, what's up? And he's like, how was school? I said, dude, I had the best day of my life. He said, it's kind of strange. You smell like trash. Damn it. He was sleeping, man. So anyway, I got in trouble. Called my probation officer. They showed up. And I was in the, I think in the kitchen or something. So I went to go take off. I was out in the back door. And he says, I'll shoot your legs off right where you stand. So I just broke down and cried. Anyway, I was such a, I was such a sport. So then about, I don't know, two months later, I kept getting into fights. Staying suspended at home. So my dad told me one day, he says, I'll tell you what, son. He says, I think you've been doing pretty decent. He said, how about I let you stay home from school and you go camping for a week. How would you like that? I said, dad, that's awesome. So I went back in there and packed my bags. All of a sudden, there was a knock at the door. I mean, it's a loud knock. He's like, answer the door, boy. I answered the door. It was a drill sergeant. He set me up for the okie doke. I was going to boot camp, not camping. So they stripped me down. They sprayed me down with his lightsaw stuff. And I'm scared to death. And anyway, so I go to boot camp for a week. So they had you repel and trust others and lean back. And I don't know what's going on, but I'm not cool with all this. And I was on the road. And I was on the road. And I was on the road. And I was on the road. And I was on the road. And I was on the road. And I was on the road. And I was on the road. And I was on the road. I was scared. So when they got me up there, I wouldn't lean back and trust nothing. So they pushed me off. So then I started scaling the wall. You know, I scratched my arms all up. So anyway, I did graduate and get a certificate. My dad came. And I get in the truck. And he says, what happened to you, boy? The damn cat got a hold of your ass. So anyway, he had some entertainment with all that, too. And he says, you know, if you ever want to go back camping, you just let me know, son. I mean, dad was really amazing. He done done all these games, man. He was just, he was enjoying it. At the time, I was not. But now, looking back, man, my dad got a lot of laughs out of my young stage of life. Anyway, at one time, he had got me real hot-headed, man. And my dad's a big old boy back then. He was my age. And I was real in shape, lifting weights and stuff. And at the fire department, he was healthy, son. He's fat and lazy now. But he was a big old boy. And, um... Tell me he's not going to walk through that door when I said fat and lazy. I don't see him. Anyway, so, uh, he got on to me at the yard for something. I'd done something, so I picked up a lawnmower blade and threw it at him. And, uh, yeah, he jacked my little scrawny ass up. And, uh, my legs were just a-kicking. Let go of me. And he said, boy, if I wasn't your daddy's little, I'd tear your head off, boy. And, uh, so we had a lot of them kind of stories. So now I'm starting to get sober. Not quite. So, I'm going in and out of Alcoholics Anonymous and all the A's that I could try. And I had met this girl, man. I probably had about 30 days sober. Man, I tell you what, man, God sent her in my life. And, uh, you just don't understand. And, um, so, believe it or not, things didn't work out. And, um, I was brokenhearted. I know it's unbelievable. And it's basically because God sent her in my way, you know. Anyway, so things didn't quite work out. I was brokenhearted. And, um, I learned what overhead welding was. And, um, I do like to stick to the singularity of purpose. So if you want to know what that is, get with me after the meeting. The two people that do it understand. And, um, so I was in really bad shape. I was basically getting homeless at this time. And I went to. I went to the hospital for help because I was so brokenhearted. My eyeballs were stuck out of my head because I was overhead welding too much. And I couldn't keep tennis shoes. I was pounding them off. So I went to the hospital. And they told me that the best thing they could do was get me out of that town. Because I was born and raised there. And I knew all the AA lingo. And everybody knew me. And they babied me. And said that I needed to get away from that and get on my own by myself. And they said the best place you can go to is to Atlanta. And I said, I'm going to go to that Pittsburgh house, which is now sober-living. And I thought at that time, I said, you know, I have no family in Atlanta. I don't know nobody in Atlanta. My dad's sure nothing will send us boy down there. Shit, my dad was in the hospital 15 minutes with a Greyhound bus ticket. And I don't know about you guys. I don't know if it's changed. But for an overhead welder like myself, Greyhound bus station in Atlanta, I got stuck, son. I was stuck. Like Chuck, boy, I couldn't get out. I just stayed down there for a while. So I'd go in and out of Pittsburgh. I went to all the halfway houses in the area, all the treatment centers. So if you're in treatment center and the food sucks, get with me and I can tell you what better place is. It serves better food. Because I frequented them places for two and a half years here in Atlanta. Not proud of it, but it's just the way it was. So right at the verge of me coming in and staying in, hopefully. I was at a halfway house off of Memorial Drive and I had relapse with my roommate and I had the one more syndrome. I don't know if y'all have ever suffered from it, but I did quite frequently. I just had to have one more. And if it took me to rob you to get that one more, sorry about your luck. So I had this great idea. I told the liquor man. To sit right here, I'd be right back and I was going in the store to rob it and get me some money. And he says, you ever done that before? I said, absolutely. Shit, I ain't never robbed a damn store in my life. And number two, I ain't had no gun. But I had eyeballs. They were like golf balls, man. They were bugged out, boy. But I had to get that one more. It was just the way it was. So I stuck my finger under my shirt, man. You ought to see. I mean, I could just imagine what I looked like. So I had the finger. Like this. Looked like a damn pistol. My eyeballs this big. And they got glass this thick because I'm in the hood. So that Chinese guy come out. And he chased me out. Ching chong, ching chong. With a stick. And I thought, you know, I might just have a problem. I had to think about it then. So I stayed sober for another 30 days. And then Harry B., which used to live in this area. He had some three-quarter houses. I worked for him off and on. He really tried to help me for multiple years. I broke his heart twice. And he said, I tell you what. I will pay for you to go to pay it forward. And I'll pay your first month's rent. Free of charge. You just got to go to meetings every day. So that's what I did. And then I relapsed in there with a couple roommates. And that was the last time I picked up. And I remember it like it was yesterday. I was drinking Jack Daniels and Coke. And I'm sitting in this apartment with no power. And I remember that morning being done. I mean, you could stick a fork in me, son. And I was ready. I was ready. And I was willing to do whatever it took. I was going to do it. So I called somebody named Charles B. He lives in Florida now. He spoke here a few months ago. He was really good to see him. And I called Charles. And he says, are you sure you're done? And I said, yes, sir. He said, well, call me back in 30 minutes if you're real. And he hung up. 30 minutes later, son, I was calling his phone. I was desperate. I was crying like a little baby, son. And he said, all right. Stay tight. Give me the address of which one you're in. I'm coming. And he went and got somebody else. And they done a 12-step call on me and picked me up. It took me to Peachtree House to pick up a white chip. Not Peachtree. Peachtree. Peachtree. Peachtree. Peachtree. Peachtree. Peachtree. Peachtree. Peachtree. Peachtree. And they done a 12-step call on me and picked me up. It took me to Peachtree House to pick up a white chip. Not Peachtree House. I'm sorry. Peachtree Hospital. And I picked up my white chip there. And at that point, I was ready. So they took me to a, he was a vet, and he took me to FOCUS, which is mainly vets. There is some outsiders that get in, but a lot of vets there. And so I was taken to that program. And he paid for, he was going to pay for a month for me. So I was there. So I went there. And I stayed there about 30 days, ma'am, but some guy took my bologna. I mean, you don't understand, man. So I really got upset. And these are vets. And this guy had no legs and was in a wheelchair. And I was going to stab this guy with a fork. He stole my bologna. So I called a buddy of mine and he says, cornbread, are you serious? I'm like, bro, down with my bologna, man. It's really upsetting. And he said, well, you really shouldn't stab a guy over bologna cornbread, but I got a solution. He said, they're going to put you out. He said, you can come to my house and stay, but you're going to work every day. You're going to go to meetings every day. And while you're at my house and working for me, you're going to follow me everywhere I go. Man, when he went to the bathroom, he done the number two. Because I had to follow him. Kind of a joke. It was so funny. Thanks for laughing. Thanks, Robin. So anyway, and so anyway, so he showed me the ropes and really worked me and then we'd come home and get a shower and we'd go to meetings all over. And then I got a sponsor from the Monday Night Titans group at this game. They had just started that group at that point. And it was really book oriented. And I got a sponsor. And the guy had shared. He was a discussion leader. And I thought I'd get him as a sponsor. So I did. And he carried me through the 12 steps of alcoholics and I'm just very grateful. But when I did go through the steps with him, when I asked him, he said, are you willing to do anything? I said, yes, sir. He said, I'll see you at the house in the morning. This would have been on a Tuesday morning. And I said, buddy, I got to go to work. He said, all right, you got to work that with David. And you're going to be with me. And we're going to look at step one. And we're going to start the steps now, not later. Launched in the action. We were in a hurry. We were in a hurry. We were in a hurry. I was going to go right into it. But I was terrified. I mean, I didn't. I was born and raised in here, but I really didn't know there was action behind those steps. I had no clue. I thought you read them every meeting and you drink coffee and you fellowship. I didn't know there was action behind them. So even though I was born and raised in here, I didn't hear that shit until I was ready. But I understood if you go through the book and you go through the steps with a sponsor, you really can network. I mean, it's just not all sponsors. You build a network. Everybody's got their own. Yeah. outlook at things i mean my outlook on recovery and the way it was back then now is totally different when i first got here i just wanted to put the plug in the jug you know what i'm saying but as things got better it's not really about drinking there's only 10 of my problem and one of the guys from the thursday night men's meeting uh named bob uh he's the old timer there he's he's still with us but he don't come to the group anymore it's hard for him to get around but i remember i'd work four and five you know done my four steps done my fifth step six and seven immediately after and i come to the group on that thursday and i said bob i got this figured out man i'm so excited he said what is it i said i probably shouldn't drink anymore do no more overhead welding he says cornbread you still ain't got it sit down and shut up man i was pissed off boy man i was pissed off he said you're the problem this shit ain't got nothing to do with you man i was so mad boy i didn't understand it now i do i understand exactly what he meant so um anyway so six and seven so i'm gonna go into age and i had most of my list um needed to be made for my fourth most and uh so i had to go out making amends and uh when i was sponsored they got the nows the laters the maybes the rovers and i had a list so you fill it out so i did and then my sponsor rearranged it so the one that i did not want to make he put it to first and list and um it was my cousin and uh my cousin never drank or used drugs at all it's weird very strange um i didn't know what was wrong with him never understood it i don't understand how you don't drink and do drugs when the money you make is just incredible and uh he worked offshore and he made good money from the time he was 16 years old he's got his own property long story but it's weird so i would have uh i lived on the property in a fifth wheel he had a house over here nice flat screen nice stuff groceries in the fridge i had nothing in the fridge but beer and liquor i didn't understand it was just weird so when i'd have dates i'd get a date and david would come home he'd be all over the place and i'd be like oh my god i'm offshore i damn sure don't live in the fifth wheel i live in his house you know what i'm saying because he's offshore i get to keep so we go in there lay up you know nice house you got thank you thank you it worked very hard for you you know what i'm saying as i'm looking out the window thinking damn that's a shame you know and gosh you don't know that fifth wheel's mine but anyway so uh my cousin when he was offshore one time i had the one moors and uh i just couldn't help it i had to have it and the only way to get it was to rob him but he was offshore so i just went in cleaned him out and uh sold it off to get what i needed and i kicked into the door when i got done because i had the key so i had to make sure it didn't look like it was a robbery after i got my fix you know what i'm saying then i called the police and my eyeballs are so the police show up and uh told them what happened they called my cousin i didn't know this at the time called my cousin and said look your cousin robbed you he's on drugs real bad and uh what do you want us to do uh we can arrest him and put him in prison and my cousin said nope don't want him in prison i just want his ass off my property so he called my grandpa i was wondering why my grandparents came to move my fifth wheel the next day so they moved me out of there and moved me on their property and uh god bless them i remember that day and uh so that was my that was uh first on the list that he arranged and back then i didn't have a license they said you take uh greyhound and uh i took greyhound went home got my grandparents to come pick me up i stayed at their house and i called him and i said buddy i need to need to meet with you he said that's fine so he came to me and uh we sit out there by the pond i started tearing up and my sponsor said when you're gonna make a financial amendment you don't go broke and say sorry i'm gonna pay you just soon as i can you go with the money in hand what you can afford and then you make payments arrangements and i said well i don't know what i owe him he said it's none of your business he'll let you know so when i got there i had 50 saved up to give him and then was going to make a payment plan with him and my cousin's not really emotional guy but me and my cousin were like brothers all the way i mean we're six months apart in age so we were raised like brothers and uh it really hurt when i got on drugs and um so anyway so i made amends and i said here's fifty dollars and how much do i owe you and i'm gonna make a payment plan and he just he just looked at me and he said you know all i want is my cousin back boy i tell you what son it hit me right in the chest son it hurt i mean it hurt in a good way but in a bad way it was just weird and i just cried man i was so sad and i said but you don't understand i'm so over now and this is part of the amends that i've got to pay you and he says you can leave that money there but that money will be there from now on i don't want your money i want you back and uh today after being sober 13 years i had the best relationship with that guy i've ever had there's a few things like when i go home now um i know this is surprising to y'all but he had an alarm system set on his house and um i had that code today i had the code to do that and i had the alarm he has no longer feels that i'm a threat at all a lot of times he's offshore when i go home but i can go to that man's house and go right on in and uh post up you know i don't take dates here no more um uh yeah wake up so um anyway it's i'm very grateful for that um so unfortunately i'm back working for myself and he knows the situation anyway uh he called me about a month ago and he says you know he says i want a new tractor and i said what do you mean you want a new tractor he's i said dude you just got that one he said i know but i want a better one and a bigger one he says you want it i said want it i can't afford that thing he said dude i'm not selling you the tractor come get it i said are you serious he said yes come get the damn thing what i'm gonna do with it so i gotta go home at the end of the month to go pick up a tractor that he's given me that's that's america man that is a miracle and uh but he left back offshore like last week so i told him i'd wait until he come back in for a couple weeks and i'd come up there and help him go get the new one and he'd load up the uh basically the other new one and my truck so i'm very grateful um recovery's not always not always easy it's not always a bed of roses um i'm not always the best acting character i try to do the best of my ability to do the best of my ability to do the best of my ability every day i've gotten a lot better since i got sober but i'm not perfect by far um my best behavior is probably up here um at work i could be a little hectic because i'm high strong and i'm a workaholic and i work so i get down boy beast but my health is not the best i got diagnosed with type 1 diabetes after i was sober about seven years um they diagnosed me as type 2 first and um things kept getting worse and they took me to a specialist and i was diagnosed with type 1 after being an adult after being 30 years old which is not it doesn't happen that often let's just say that it can happen but you know they say you don't get diabetes from eating sugar and stuff but i i kind of disagree you know when i was a kid i remember a bowl of cereal that was really sweet you know if you put sugar on something and you put sugar on it and you put sugar on it on top of that and dig it out with a spoon and eat it with milk dude that's just delicious man and um so i believe that i can ruin my pancreas i think i just overloaded it but anyway and now today i'm addicted to moose tracks um some of y'all know what that is right the ice cream moose tracks mayfield kroger i would yeah i would suggest you go today but um um anyway um corona man i mean i was budweiser but anyway i shouldn't be making jokes but um anyway uh you know the life i lived and the life i live today my brain everything is so different you know my sister is uh still an active addiction and uh i got a niece and nephew and they are my world it's sad to be on the other side kids don't have a choice it's terrible you know um so my sister called me this was about i don't know a month ago i was half asleep on the couch i wanted to be the first to tell you i spent my first night in jail and i guess my sister's i don't know she's got to be 34 and i said oh yeah and she said yeah she said i got caught with less than an ounce of marijuana so i didn't stay but overnight but now i'm on the way to get an ounce and in my mind It's like, so you went from a misdemeanor now to a felony, man. You're awesome, man. That's great thinking. And then I think back to where my mind was. You know, that's how easy our minds can click right back to that insanity. That is crazy as hell. You know, my niece and nephew riding in the vehicle. It just drives me up the wall. You know, but they're not my kids. And that's what I've got to keep in my mind. And, you know, I've had them here for a couple weeks at a time. You know, it just sucks to be on the other side of this disease. It really does. It's hard to deal with. You know, but I can't preach. I don't preach to nobody in my family. I show them by example. You know, I used to party with my sister years ago. They used to buy their alcohol from me. You know, and I don't live that way today at all. You know, we used to when I first got sick. When I first got sober, I used to think that I had to take off my sunglasses so my granddaddy could see that my eyes ain't bloodshot. You know, trust back with my family is incredible. My grandmother does not have to hide her purse. Their medications are safe in the medicine cabinet today. You know, all that stuff is a big deal to me because it used to didn't be that way. Grandma would have to hide her purse. Medicine would definitely have to be put up. Anything that changes the way I feel, I'm all for it, son. Doesn't matter what it is. And today I don't have that. You know, I have a host of friends. And, you know, a lot of people say, a lot of people know you, Cornbread. That's because I got in the middle of the bed when I got here. I got numbers. I used them numbers. I called them people. I didn't have shit to say, but I'd tell them how the weather was. That's what my sponsor said. He said, if you don't know them, you feel uncomfortable, call them and ask them how the weather is. It starts a conversation, right? So that's how you build the conversation. Now you ask them how Corona's doing. All right. All right. I need to stop that. So anyway, and I'm really grateful the way Nava has these seats. If you look at these plastic seats, they got that dent on the bottom. So if you fart, it doesn't make a real big noise. And I'm grateful to be here with y'all tonight. Thank you for allowing me to share my story. Thank you. Thank you. So he's just proving my point. All right. Thank you, Cornbread. Say something positive and keep it short. I'm just still trying to think about that chair comment. I'm just trying to put some kind of spin on that. But no, Cornbread works with a lot of guys. He does a lot of good work. He helps people out. And like I said, to me, that's, you know, it's a great thing in recovery. That we can be there for others and, you know, to give back and want to give back. Because, you know, all it takes is one drink to go back to where I was. For me, you know, I mean, yeah, Cornbread's a little crazy, but we're all insane. For every story I've ever heard from Alcoholics Anonymous, let's say we've all got our insane story, you know. So anyway, thanks again for doing that. Anybody got anything? So, again, I guess we've asked somebody to give out the chips. I don't know who. We can take a volunteer. Would somebody like to volunteer to give out the chips? I don't know where they are. They're right there. Oh, yeah, they're right there, John. Hey, everybody. Thank you so much for your story, Cornbread. You nailed it, buddy. As usual, it was great. Okay. Here at AA, we've got a chip system. We offer a white chip for anybody. Anybody that wants to try our program here for 24 hours. Anybody want to take a white chip? We'll come back to this. We've got a silver chip here for 30 days. Anybody got 30 days and want to come up and pick up a silver chip? We've got a gold chip. 90 days. Anybody got a 90 day? Span going day and night. 90 days. All right. Good going, buddy. Hang in there. It's worth it. 60. I'm sorry. Yeah, he knew that. My bad. We don't do that in the meeting I go to. I get a pass. We get a red chip for 90 days. Anybody got 90 days and want to come up and get a red chip? That's for 70 days, John. I'm already confused enough, Cornbread. Just throw that in. We've got a yellow chip for 60. I mean, six months. I mean, six months. We've got six months. Anybody got six months and want to get a yellow chip? All right. We got a nine month. Anybody? Three months. All right. Congratulations. You earned it. You earned every day of it. Keep coming back. That's right. It's worth it. It is. OK, we got a blue chip for one year. Anybody got a year? All right. Way to go, my friend. Step up and tell us who you are and how many. Thomas, alcoholic. How did I get this a year ago? I woke up in a pool of sweat and I was just sick and tired of being sick and tired. So I'd had enough. I was given the gift of desperation. And today I'm here and I'm grateful. And so guys at work in my life, my sponsor, suit up and show up. Every day. And tomorrow is another day. So I'm hopeful. Thank you very much. One year. Anybody else want a blue chip tonight? Anybody? You're welcome to come up and pick it up. OK. And we offer this white chip one more time. Because this is how it gets started. This is the most important one out of all the chips. So anybody need a white chip tonight? OK. God bless you for the chips you got. Thank you, John. Thank you, one and all, for joining the blue chip speaker meeting tonight. Upside down. You got to stop fighting everything. Every one of the lessons. Breaking all the rules. Guilty. Lost. Sleep away the day from the sun. You got to stop fighting everything. Everyone.