Harry G. has been in and out of sobriety for more years than he cares to remember, but it took the historic storm of late November to get him to finally turn it over to a power greater than himself.

Seattle was practically immobilized by the rare, heavy snow that fell Monday, Nov. 27. Harry, newly sober and eager to fulfill his commitments, had promised to pick up a friend at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Monday night.

There'd been no sign of snow that afternoon when he left home to join the phone answering crew at Seattle Intergroup, but by the time he arrived it was snowing heavily. Harry stuck it out till 8 o'clock, and then decided to leave for the airport, weather or no. By then, there was chaos on the highways, cars in the ditches or spinning madly as their drivers discovered they didn't know how to drive on snow. Harry didn't either, and he was in the worst possible kind of vehicle for the conditions, an empty van with rear-wheel drive. But a promise was a promise, so off he went on the 15-mile drive to the airport.

"Highway 518 (the airport access freeway) was an ice sheet," Harry said. "There were cars, buses and wreckers everywhere-I don't know how it happened, but at that point, I let go. I got out of myself real quick and stopped trying to drive and let God take over. And we made it to the airport.

"I'll have to admit there was a lot of stupidity involved in that trip. How in the hell was I gonna get out of there? The airport concourses were packed. Limousine and taxi drivers were refusing to go anywhere. People were holding up signs begging for a ride.

"I found my friend. He was just in from Hawaii, wearing shorts. We decided to see if we could make it back to Seattle. As we were pulling out, we picked up a young guy who was sitting in the snow, holding up a sign that said 'Seattle.' At the ticket booth, there was a mob of stranded travelers. One guy offered me $40. We picked up five more, and that may have saved us. It put some weight in the back of the van over the rear wheels, and probably offset the fact that I hadn't chained up even though I had chains.

"I was in a state of fear, but all those people were so confident I could get 'em home that it kinda picked me up. Maybe too much confidence!

"I was going about two miles an hour when the van started skidding. At that point, I did put the chains on. I also started praying: 'God, I don't know how to do this. Please help me get these people home. I won't drive 'cause I don't have a clue how to do this.'

"It was the scariest ride ever. The van was all over the road so many times, but I never hit anybody or the guard rails, and I never spun out. The car was kinda on automatic. I wasn't driving. Somebody else was moving my arms and feet, using me to drive. My passengers were gasping, but I knew it was gonna be okay."

His brain intervened enough to tell him to keep off icy Highway 518. Instead, he crossed under Interstate 5 and got onto the relatively flat Interurban Avenue. When he got into Seattle, there was no snow on Capitol Hill where he made his first delivery. The others were dropped off all over North Seattle, including the top of the hill at Magnolia bluff.

"There were no problems. I got home to bed at 3:30 a.m. and made it to my home group, Water's edge, at 7 the next morning."

The night was a heavy challenge for Harry, who at that time was working on his 22nd day of sobriety. For 26 years, he'd been trying to clean up his act, but something always sent him out again. Two years ago, he'd had his last drink, but his lifetime addiction to marijuana was still very much a part of his life. Before that, he'd had three years of alcohol sobriety, but marijuana never left his side.

"When I got my DUI, I made a deal with myself that I'd smoke marijuana as soon as I got clear of the court." And he did, so he never felt honest about substance abuse. Not until he was watching TV one night and had a God shot. He saw a friend from OSAT (One Step At A Time) being interviewed. (OSAT is a mountain climbing A.A club here.) A.A, was never mentioned in the interview, but what he heard convinced him to put marijuana on the shelf behind him along with his booze.

Harry wants to join OSAT on a climb of Mt. Rainier, and he knew he could never do it if he was still using. Since then, he's been going to three or more meetings a day.

Harry comes from Indiana and a drinking family. He served eight years in the navy and learned the electrician's and plumber's trades, but was finally "invited out" because he couldn't control his marijuana addiction. He'd been smoking the stuff since he was 14.

After leaving the service, he worked his trades in California and added cocaine to his list of addictions. That curse was part of his life 'til he managed to quit white knuckle. "That was soul death," he says now. "I wouldn't want to wish that on anybody." But booze and marijuana were still part of his life. Off and on through the years, he was able to give up alcohol with the help of A.A., but he always went out again until a year ago.

He finally got sober Dec. 12, 2004, through a program in Marin County, California. "They were beautiful people," Harry says. "I haven't had a drink since." But marijuana stayed with him 'til Nov. 5 of 2006, so that's what he counts as his sobriety date.

Today, Harry is a committed, sober, dedicated AA. member Looking back, he reflected, "I'd forgotten about God for a long time, but now He's my saving grace. God never gave up on me, and I will be forever thankful he didn't."

Interviewed and written by Dick S.