MEMOIR
My Live-In Boyfriend Dumped Me In A Text Message
In AA, the thirteenth step is the worst step of all
I met Donny at a place called Club Oasis, which was a popular AA meeting place that was really more like a clique. I’d see him there occasionally, and we sometimes exchanged a joke or two. Honestly, I had no idea he had any feelings for me at all. I was too focused on my recovery from alcohol and drugs.
He was too young for me by seven or eight years. I guess that’s why I didn’t give him a second look after he told me that had liked me for a long time. He confessed that his best friend lived across the street from me, and Donny would admire me from afar when he visited.
At the time, I was starving for love. I’d just ended a nine-year marriage with a husband who abused me badly. Even though I felt lucky to get away from him, the idea of falling in love still appealed to me. I was living in a halfway house and suffering from loneliness even though there were a lot of people around. The women I lived with were great, but I wanted somebody to light me up on the inside.
Dating within AA is privately called the “thirteenth step.” We were strongly warned against getting into any type of relationship for the first year of sobriety and to definitely not get involved with…
