my name is paul molloy and i'm an alcoholic. i want to welcome everybody to the 17th annual oxford house convention. as those of you who have -- i'm sorry. it's the 19th. i've lost track. this is what happens when you get old. i remember the first convention we had. it was up on new jersey avenue at a hotel that held 200 people, and we thought, oh my god, this is such a big hotel, we will never get 200 people. we lasted at that hotel only for a year, and we have moved from one hotel to another we've held the convention every other year in washington, d.c.. and this year there are almost 1300 folks registered already. [applause] with all those conventions, we've always started in the same way, and that is having an invocation to get started on the right foot. each of us who have not drank alcohol or use drugs today is grateful, but we remember that seldom do we take credit for that all by ourselves. and two years ago and several other times in our history, deacon ron ely has been wanting to come early in the morning to start us o

my name is paul molloy and i'm an alcoholic. i want to welcome everybody to the 17th annual oxford house convention. as those of you who have -- i'm sorry. it's the 19th. i've lost track. this is what happens when you get old. i remember the first convention we had. it was up on new jersey avenue at