The banner headline in Friday’s Akron Beacon-Journal said it all:
For the thousands who made the annual pilgrimage to this rust-belt Midwestern city for the 76th anniversary of Founders Day — the beginning of Alcoholics Anonymous — it is more than a celebration. It’s a reaffirmation of days, weeks, months and years of a standoff with the beast of addiction, a realization that one is in a war that never ends against an enemy that never gives up in a battle that must be fought one day at a time.
Eight of us gathered for breakfast at the International House of Pancakes in Salem early Friday before climbing aboard our Harley-Davidsons for the 384-mile ride to Akron — home of oatmeal, tires and the Goodyear Blimp. We rolled into town more than eight hours later — tired from the unrelenting heat and rough pavement of I-77 in West Virginia and Ohio but eager to join the throng of fellow travelers to celebrate another year of successful resistance to the beast.
After dinner we headed back to the hotel for a needed night of rest and sleep. On Saturday, we will celebrate in the same way we deal with recovery — one day at a time.