There are a few ways to start a riot at an AA meeting - you can bring up the question of "choice or no choice" (i.e. the idea that an alcoholic loses the power of choice in drink),  you can say that "AA is for alcoholics only",  you can insinuate that the Big Book actually means what it says - or you can say "recovered alcoholic".

That one really gets folks riled up. I'm not sure where it came from, but I do know that many treatment centers tell their patients not to say "recovered" because then (they say) the folks will assume that they don't have to do AA anymore (interesting sidenote: I started to type "do the Steps", which to me translates as "the actions that bring about recovery" and then figured that I should say "go to meetings" because that is actually what the treatment centers actually tell their folks, and I wound up actually typing "do the Steps" because that's what I really think, but then realized that we're not talking about what I think, but what is said -but then I decided that I wasn't willing to dilute the message even to be accurate in reflecting what other folks might say, so I settled for the phrase "do AA" which to me means "do the Steps" but to others might mean something entirely different).

When somebody says "I'm a recovered alcoholic" you can watch the neck hairs bristle across the room (I, myself, never see this happen, because I'm always looking at the floor when I say it, because I'm so humble) because many people think that to say "recovered" is proof of arrogance. Funny - I think that saying "recovering alcoholic" is MUCH more arrogant, for this simple reason - the Big Book says "recovered". It says it many, many times - that when we've worked the Steps, and the miracle has happened and the booze is no longer an issue, we are recovered.

So it seems - again, just to me - that if the Big Book says something, and I'm sitting in a meeting of Alcoholic Anonymous contradicting the Big Book, that's some bodacious arrogance, right there.

Anyway, the barstool pictured above is obviously in need of recovering. So Ethel did the research on the Internet about "how torecover upholstery" and then went to JoAnn's Fabrics (I hid outside, in the car, so that the life-force-sucking phenomenon which happens to males inside of fabric stores wouldn't drain what little time I have left) and spent eternity inside, looking for Just The Right Fabric. I think that she found it, too.

She then took the barstool apart, got the proper tools, and recovered the barstool (and the barstool's twin, as well).  Now - to my way of thinking and speaking - from the moment that Ethel turned the barstool over and started unscrewing the seat itself, to the moment when the barstool went back into service in the kitchen, the barstool was "in recovery".

But now, when I look at the new barstool, I don't think "that barstool is recovering". I think "that barstool is recovered".

                                              


Speaking of these barstools - we bought them at an Anthem yardsale for $35 (for the pair). They are heavy wrought iron - I suspect that I could get more than $35 for the pair as scrap metal :) ...the only thing "wrong" with them was that the former burlap seat covers were worn at the front. This wrought iron is strong stuff - I expect these chairs to outlast me. I expect them to make it through the Apocalpyse.

I suspect that Ethel spent more on the fabric to recover them than we spent on the barstools themselves - but now we have barstools that will last FOREVER, because as soon as they show any signs of wear, we have the skillset and tools necessary to get them back into tiptop shape in just a few minutes - just like me; I'm RECOVERED, but I have the skills and tools necessary to stay in this spiritual shape forever (yep, I just couldn't help myself - I had to extend the analogy all the way :)