I’m in love! I’ve been in love for almost twenty years now. I’m in love with the First Step!

While others may find comfort in prayers or religious passages, I find comfort in these words: “We admitted we were powerless over food—that our lives had become unmanageable.”

My romantic history is almost as chaotic as my battles with food. I’ve never married, but I’ve been engaged three times—more than once to a guy with a criminal record. The only love I have sustained ever since we first met is with the First Step. It has always been there and has never let me down.

After twenty years our bond is stronger than ever—when a person is in love, she feels a certain thrill in the presence of the loved one. I feel this same thrill when it is announced at an OA meeting that we will be reading the First Step.

Has anyone tried telling you that OA is not romantic? As long as the First Step hangs around, I will have romance in my life—and a healthy romance at that! Yes, I’m in love. Aren’t you?

—Carla S., Chapel Hill, North Carolina USA

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