Ok so let me tell you about this.
Mark Sheppard’s autograph is the only autograph I bought because, although he’s a ridiculously talented actor and I’m a big fan (Canton and Badger just kicked ass), I admire him the most for staying sober for over 25 years. So I brought my NA step book for him to sign because six years clean or not, I still have a really hard time with steps, and I have trust issues when it comes to my sponsors, and it’s one part of my recovery that’s so important and is constantly being neglected.
Now, if you don’t know how autographs work, they’re pretty fast paced. Mark was running late from his last photo op session AND he had a flight to catch, so the staff was rushing us like crazy. I slid my step book in front of him and he started signing it without looking at it. Then he paused and actually looked at what he was signing. He asked if this was new to me and I said no, that I’d been clean for six years but I have a hard time with steps. You could actually see the Creation staff vibrating because I was taking up time that he literally didn’t have to spare. But he was still looking at me so I told him how much I admire him staying clean for over 25 years and that this is something I want. For myself. In two decades I want to be able to say that I had been clean that long too. He circled step one as a place to start. And he said: “Don’t drink, don’t use, don’t die. It can be done, just keep doing it.”
And the next thing I know I was outside the convention center sobbing like an idiot.