A Fine Hour in That Month of July

End where the Traditions began. Bill W. wrote (A.A. Comes of Age): "In the summer of 1950 we held our first international convention in Cleveland, Ohio. About 3,000 were in attendance." Dr. Bob was dying and everyone knew it — five of the previous seven months in bed — and he stood up anyway, and chose the smallest words he had (Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers): "Our Twelve Steps, when simmered down to the last, resolve themselves into the words 'love' and 'service.' We understand what love is, and we understand what service is. So let's bear those two things in mind." Then the Convention did what this whole year of readings has been about — Bill called it (A.A. Comes of Age) "the confirmation of our Twelve Traditions by the Convention as the permanent platform of unity and function". A recording preserves "the Convention's unanimous voice of consent." His verdict: "It was a fine hour in that month of July, 1950." Three hundred sixty-six readings end here, on purpose: a dying founder asking for simplicity, and a room of anonymous alcoholics answering with one voice that principles would govern from now on. You can still listen to the yes.