The Quincy bar. Right on Main street. A real-alcoholic refuge – a single door that opens onto the sidewalk and no windows anywhere. Perfect. If you were to go inside you wouldn’t know if it is day or night. No one can see that you are inside and, just as important, you can forget that there is an outside beyond your sheltered world.
This bar is one block away from a bagel shop that I frequent. At times I get to walk right by, often in the morning, and the bar door is usually propped open. Seemingly so they can air the place out a bit…and maybe so I can get a glimpse of the insanity that is only a bended elbow away. The smell of stale beer, stale people, and cigarettes wafts out as I pass.
The last few times I have passed by the Quincy there is something new happening. The state initiated new no-smoking laws and you can no longer smoke in a bar. Now I get to see little groups of hard core alcoholics hanging out in front of the Quincy. Wow. Such a bunch of hapless souls. The few people I have seen are not a pretty sight. Skinny, sullen, hunched over in a way that makes them look like they are shrinking, and faces that look like they are wearing many lifetimes upon them.
While it is chilling to see these folks, especially during the times when I exchange a word or two in passing, I am really grateful to see so starkly what things are like for some actively drinking alcoholics. Definitely not what I want. I’m so thankful for AA, my sobriety, the people I know that work at staying sober, and for those that have taught me to live my life on a spiritual basis.
I hope to see you in a meeting – and not smoking a cigarette while taking a short break from drinking in the Quincy bar.
All the best in sobriety,
AA Blogger