The Meeting

“Don’t worry about it. You’ll enjoy it here. Everyone is pretty understanding and non-judgmental. We’ve all pretty much been there before,” Louisa said as she sipped on her soda. She smiled at Frankie, the newcomer to the meeting who Louisa decided she was going to try and make feel welcome.

The other members of the group were standing around the room, some sipping soda, some water, some eating various snacks and cookies, but all of them mingling with someone else.

At the appropriate time, someone stepped up to the podium that had been set up at the front of the room and gently knocked on it for attention. “Excuse me, everyone, but I would like to get the meeting started now.” The people found their seats at gave their attention to the leader. “As many of you know, my name is Wallace and I lead these meetings. For the benefit of any newcomers, I’ll let you know that I’m pretty much a no-frills guy and just like to have the members of the meeting share their stories and experiences. I feel that this sort of sharing is the best type of therapy for people like us. Okay, Who would like to go first?”

A woman stood up in the middle of the group and smiled nervously at everyone. She was in her 50‘s, with her brown hair sprinkled with gray. “Hello everyone, I’m Janice, and this is my first meeting.”

“Welcome, Janice,” the group said in unison.

“Thank you. Something happened to me recently, actually just two days ago, that made me face my addiction. I would indulge at any time, in between breakfast and lunch, while watching my stories, sitting on the porch. Hell, I even had a supply stashed in my glove box for when I was driving. And then, before I knew it, my supplier got out of the game and my supply dried up. That’s when I started getting desperate. It got so bad that, two days ago, I tried to cook up my own batch. I got all the ingredients, mixed them together, and put them in the oven. And then I fell asleep. I woke up an hour later to my house filling with smoke. That’s right, I could have burned my house down for some bootleg product.” Janice put her hands to her face and began to cry, her shoulders shaking from her sobbing. A few of the people sitting near Janice patted her, and one woman sitting next to her held her hand. “After that happened, I came to the realization that I had a serious problem, and needed help for my addiction .”

“Thank you Janice for sharing your story. Admitting you have a problem is never an easy thing to do.” Wallace looked around the room. “Anyone else?”

A man in his forties stood up slowly and nodded to the group. “Hello group, my name is Xavier and I’ve been clean for three years, five months and 4 days, now.” The group applauded this news. “Recently, I had a moment when I was tempted to fall off the wagon again. A couple of days ago, I was walking down the street when I saw my old supplier across the street.” There was a chorus of murmurs accompanied by shaking heads. “Yeah, I know. And what made it worse was the fact that she was walking down the street with a shopping cart full of the stuff. For a moment, I was tempted to run across the street and tackle that little girl and just take the shit in that cart. But I knew that wasn’t what I was supposed to do. I remembered what my life was like when I was addicted and how much better it’s been since I’ve been off the stuff. After a deep breath, I was able to continue on my way and not look back.” Xavier sat down and the group applauded, with a couple of the people sitting around him patting him on his shoulders in support.

“Thank you for sharing, Xavier. I know how far you’ve come, and I’m sure I’m not the only one of us who’s proud of you for being able to walk away from the temptation.” Wallace paused for a few moments before holding out his hands in front of him. “Will there be another?”

In the front row, a young woman in a business suit stood up and faced the rest of the group. “Hi everyone, I’m Candace and I’ve been clean for three months now.” The group clapped. “I’ve been coming here for a while, and, even though it’s been only a few months, I feel like I’ve come a long way from where I was. It seems like it happened so quickly. It started out so innocently, with a couple of coworkers selling the cookies for their daughters. My cookie of choice was the Lemon Chalet. There was something about those cookies that made me feel good in ways I can’t describe. I would have a few cookies here and there, thinking everything was okay as long as I took it slowly. I didn’t know how far it would go, with me sneaking off to the ladies room to devour a box without anyone noticing. Every time I stepped out the bathroom, I felt like my coworkers were staring at me, seeing crumbs on my clothes that I couldn’t see. It got to the point where I couldn’t even go an hour without a hit. I was stockpiling boxes of the shit in my house like WWIII was coming. When my friends came over and saw that, they knew I needed help. It’s been a struggle these past few months, but I’m glad they cared enough to say something.” Candace sat down, letting out a deep breath. The group applauded at her confession.

“Thank you for that, Candace. As many of our members will tell you, these first few months are the hardest, but if you can get through it, you’ll be okay. Would someone else like to share?”

A man stood up at the back of the room. “Hi everyone, my name is Glen, and I’ve been clean for two weeks now. This is my third meeting, but my first time sharing. I was told that letting your bottom be known was a freeing experience, so here I go. As with most of you, I got mine through family. I don’t blame them, though. They didn’t know what they were starting. My cookies of choice were ones that I’m sure many of y’all are familiar with, the Thin Mints.” There was a chorus of murmurs and groans from the group. “Yeah, I know. They say those are the most addictive of them all, and those were the ones I went after. I’ve always been the type to do things big, so I guess this was just another example of that. Anyways, I fell into it fast and hard. I quickly escalated to a 3 box-a-day habit. Those cookies were taking over my life.” Glen stopped and looked down at the floor, as if debating on whether or not to continue. It took a few words of encouragement from the group for him to go on. “The point when I knew I had a problem was when my lifestyle affected my kids. I thought I was good, but I went overboard with it. My kids came home from school one day to find me in bed, naked, covered in cookie crumbs with empty boxes strewn around the bed. I had passed out eating Thin Mints!! I never thought it would get that bad, but when your kids have to see something like that, you just have to get help.” Glen sighed and stood there, as if he wanted to say more. “Thank you,” he finally said before sitting back down.