What AA Gave My Mother Was Half a Quart of Milk - AA Speaker - Billy N.

Billy was told at 17 that he might be too cool to get sober; AA eventually carried him through jail and homelessness into Big Book service, family repair, and a life his mother could finally discuss with pride.

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Billy, sober since January 5, 1990, grew up in a large Irish Catholic family where alcoholism, fear, and keeping up appearances were woven into ordinary life. His first serious drunk at 13 made him feel comfortable in his own skin, beginning years of violent drinking, repeated visits to Alcoholics Anonymous, legal consequences, a fatal impaired-driving crash, incarceration, and homelessness. Billy describes being the teenager who was too cool for AA, learning recovery language without taking the actions, and nearly walking away after hearing that sobriety earned in jail did not count. A speaker tape inside the correctional facility gave him enough hope to continue. Still an atheist or agnostic during his first five years sober, Billy gradually found a life in the Big Book, the Twelve Steps, corrections work, young people’s AA, and general service. He explains that recovery required more than learning a new way to live - it required unlearning nearly everything he had been taught about manhood, prejudice, pride, and asking for help. Ultimately, it was not the consequences that kept him sober, but the good life that returned a little at a time and allowed his family to heal.

Billy N. from Spring Lake Heights, NJ speaking at the 70th "Old Grandad" Conference in Hot Springs, AR - August 20th 2010 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu