The Age Requirement

I would have gone to AA earlier, I said to myself, but I thought there was some kind of age requirement—that you had to be at least 40. When I dragged myself through the doors of AA in March of 1976, I assumed that I would be harshly judged by those in attendance at meetings because, at age 24, I was living back home with my parents albeit temporarily (they really didn’t want me around)and had never had a career, a house, a car, or a long-term relationship! So not much to have lost during my drinking days. Yet somehow, by not having these trophies of life to lose, I felt illegitimate.