My story, such as it is.
I am 64 years old and I’ve been sober for 70 years.
I grew up in Oklahoma in an Irish Catholic family. The Catholic part is irrelevant to my story, the Irish ancestry seems fairly common in our program. More to the point I grew up believing alcohol was an expected and necessary part of adult life. After a few years I began to realize that my drinking was a problem for me. At the same time I learned that my father who was a heavy drinker with a terrible temper had tried to quit drinking twice unsuccessfully. My father was hugely important to me. He was brilliant and very successful. I thought if I could quit drinking while he was unable to it would show him how strong and successful I was and I quit on my own. It took a while but I was able to quit drinking on my own. But all the mental and emotional parts of my alcoholism remained in place and just as counterproductive as ever! Someone finally said to me, “you are the angriest man I know! You belong in Alcoholics Anonymous!” I thought that was nuts and ignored it. But I remembered it.
A few years later I stumbled into Alcoholics Anonymous. I was lonely and troubled. It was just what I needed. I asked someone to be my sponsor. He said he was awfully busy and suggested another man who turned out to be perfect for me. An effective, kind and patient sponsor was exactly what I needed. I went to a lot of meetings and made a lot of supporting friends.
Life is awfully good for me now. The support and guidance I received has been indispensable. I am grateful!
