AArdvarks

AArdvarks
At the first group meeting, Emu said, “all the aardvarks are here.”

“What?” I asked, having no idea what he was talking about.

“It was the name of my high school academic team. They divided the senior class into five sections. Each section picked a mascot. Three kids in my section had seen each other at AA meetings. We convinced everyone to be aardvarks, but the three of us spelled it

“A.A.rdvarks.”
I looked around the room, a few people shrugged, but nobody objected to the name.

“Do aardvarks have any qualities you admire? Qualities you could use in early recovery?” I asked. “I don’t know a lot about them.”

“I like that they’re persistent,” Emu said. “They don’t give up when they encounter a really tough termite mound.”

“I saw them on the nature channel,” Michaela said. “Those #$^( don’t let the stinging ants bother them. That’s like not letting little minds bother you."

James added, “They defend themselves, but they don’t attack. They’re not haters.”

“They stay within a mile of two of their burrows,” Relapse Boy said. “When they find a safe place, they stay there.”

“You guys know your stuff when it comes to aardvarks!” I said, half impressed and a little weirded out. “From now on, we’re the AArdvarks group.”

Today I will be an aardvark.