Anniversary Gifts

Do you buy yourself a gift for your AA anniversary? People celebrate anniversaries in different ways and I love to give myself a gift.

I know one fellow in Baltimore who puts a dollar in his top drawer each time he attends an AA meeting and on his anniversary he counts his money and buys a new golf club or luxury gadget. Another woman I knew early on bought herself a piece of good jewelry for each anniversary that ended in a 5 or a zero. Another woman I know loves boots so her anniversary gift has become a splurge pair—“these boots are made for walking—and recovery.” Another wonderful gift I hear folks giving to themselves is an AA or spiritual retreat—an AA conference or weekend at a place like Kripalu or Omega.

Twenty years ago I bought a scarf for an anniversary and that became my annual gift. I have some beauties. Sometimes the scarf fits the theme of my year—when I did a lot of ACOA work around mother issues I bought a scarf with a mother’s day theme, and the year that most of my growth came from loss I bought a scarf with autumn leaves falling from blackened trees. The scarf from year ten is pink with silver keys—my reminder that I have the “keys to the kingdom”. But my favorite, I think, is rose colored with an image of a ship in a bottle—my reminder of where I was once trapped and how I sailed free.

Many of us also give gifts on our anniversaries—especially a “birthday” gift to a local Intergroup or AA World Service. We know that service is gratitude in action. And sometimes gratitude is gratitude in action too.