AA Recovery Interviews with Howard L.

Paul's award-winning achievements in the music industry are beyond compare. His work has woven itself into the fabric of 20th and 21st century popular culture. His memorable songs have touched multiple generations around the world. But, as with many alcoholics, Paul’s genius grew out of a Dickensian childhood, full of family upheavals and physical challenges that left him with little solace, save his song-writing. By the time alcohol and drugs entered the picture in his early 20’s, his musical talents had been honed into a career in which he enjoyed unbridled creativity and massive success during the 1970’s. But Paul’s burgeoning alcoholism cunningly resided off-stage, in the shadows of his own denial and the enabling of those around him. By 1989, after a decade lost to the disease, Paul faced the bleak reality of his alcoholism and its devastating effects on his life and those he loved. As the gates of hell loomed ever-larger with each passing day, a series of “God-moments” occurred that brought Paul to his knees at the doors of Alcoholics Anonymous. Willing to embrace AA’s Program of action, he embarked on a spiritual journey that ultimately saved him. Over the years, he has offered his experience and hope to countless alcoholics, both inside and outside the rooms. Infusing his own fame and fortune with the humility of one who has thoroughly worked a spiritually-guided Program, Paul enjoys his broad role as a trusted servent to those who need AA now or may need it in the future. His gentle, yet powerful, words of encouragement and hope are every bit as inspiring and heart-felt as the songs he created over the years.

The challenges of producing an anonymous interview with someone so well-known were considerable. But both Paul and I turned the final outcome over to a power greater than ourselves. I believe you will be pleased by the results. Unfortunately, the sound quality is less than stellar as Zoom was somewhat glitchy the day of the interview. But give it a few minutes. Paul’s story will whisk you away to a clear and wonderful awareness of his words.

So please enjoy the next hour and ten minutes of AA Recovery Interviews, my one hundredth podcast, as you listen to the insightful and exhilarating words of my friend and AA brother, Paul W.

Check out Howard’s Big Book Podcast, the complete unabridged audio version of the First and Second Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. The Big Book Podcast is an engaging cover-to-cover, word-for-word reading of all 11 chapters and Personal Stories, many of which were left out of the Third and Fourth Editions. Follow us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Or listen on https://bigbookpodcast.com

If you’ve enjoyed my AA Recovery Interviews series and my Big Book podcast, have a listen to Lost Stories of the Big Book, 30 Original Stories Missing from the 3rd and 4th Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. It’s an engaging audiobook I narrated to bring these stories to life for AA members who’ve never seen them. These timeless testamonials were originally cut to make room for newer stories in the 3rd and 4th Editions. But their vitally important messages of hope are as meaningful today as when they were first published. Many listeners will hear these stories for the first time. Lost Stories of the Big Book is available on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes. It’s also available as a Kindle book if you’d like to read along with the audio.

[Disclaimer: AA Recovery Interviews podcast strictly adheres to AA’s 12 Traditions and all General Service Office guidelines for safe-guarding anonymity on-line. I pay all podcast production costs and no one receives financial gain from the show. AA Recovery Interviews and my guests do not speak for or represent AA at-large. This podcast is simply my way of giving back to AA that which has been so freely given to me. -Howard L.]

Blayne's path to alcoholism began at age 10 with loneliness, isolation, and, ultimately, bitterness towards God after his beloved grandfather died. Living near his grandfather’s ranch in a small east Texas town, Blayne learned about hunting, fishing, and how to act like a man. When his grandfather, whom he idolized, passed away, Blayne was left with few coping skills beyond the kind a “real man”, like John Wayne, would use. So, by the time he started drinking, Blayne had a lot to drink away. But booze always did the trick. Drinking with increasing volume and frequency, he barely made it through high school and college, where he also smoked pot on a regular basis. By his early 20s, Blayne’s life was rudderless as his alcoholism progressed. He eventually went through a treatment program, followed by nearly two years as a resident of a sober living facilities. It was there that he was exposed to Alcoholics Anonymous. But it wasn’t until he was 27, when, at the additional urging of a therapist, that he surrendered.  Blayne finally decided to claim sobriety with a solid commitment to do the work the Program demanded.

Since that day nearly 19 years ago, Blayne has become somewhat of a model AA member. He attends meetings regularly and it’s not uncommon for me to see him two or three times a week. He’s done intensive step work with his sponsors throughout the years, passing the practical wisdom he has learned onto the men that he sponsors. Study of the Big Book, daily prayer, and residing in the middle of the program have helped him get through difficult times, including a severe illness of his son. He also survived maintaining a relationship with an active alcoholic whose brutal disease was arrested on the day she herself survived a deadly DWI. Her subsequent sobriety, thanks to AA in prison, made it possible for Blayne to allow her back into his life.

Like many, Blayne’s tale has much to offer to those whose experience with alcoholism has been wrought with seemingly impossible challenges. As the 99th episode in my AA Recovery Interviews podcast series, it contains many similarities with other stories I’ve heard over the past two years. But there’s also a lot of new insights to learn from Blayne’s story and my hope is that you’ll benefit from them all.

So please enjoy the next hour of AA Recovery Interviews as you listen to the captivating words of my friend and AA brother, Blayne H.

Check out Howard’s Big Book Podcast, the complete unabridged audio version of the First and Second Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. The Big Book Podcast is an engaging cover-to-cover, word-for-word reading of all 11 chapters and Personal Stories, many of which were left out of the Third and Fourth Editions. Follow us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Or listen on https://bigbookpodcast.com

If you’ve enjoyed my AA Recovery Interviews series and my Big Book podcast, have a listen to Lost Stories of the Big Book, 30 Original Stories Missing from the 3rd and 4th Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. It’s an engaging audiobook I narrated to bring these stories to life for AA members who’ve never seen them. These timeless testamonials were originally cut to make room for newer stories in the 3rd and 4th Editions. But their vitally important messages of hope are as meaningful today as when they were first published. Many listeners will hear these stories for the first time. Lost Stories of the Big Book is available on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes. It’s also available as a Kindle book if you’d like to read along with the audio.

[Disclaimer: AA Recovery Interviews podcast strictly adheres to AA’s 12 Traditions and all General Service Office guidelines for safe-guarding anonymity on-line. I pay all podcast production costs and no one receives financial gain from the show. AA Recovery Interviews and my guests do not speak for or represent AA at-large. This podcast is simply my way of giving back to AA that which has been so freely given to me. -Howard L.]

April’s road trip of terror began during a drunken 4-hour drive on a major interstate. Halfway into the trip, while drinking vodka from a plastic bottle, she crossed the median at over ninety miles an hour. She crashed head-on into a car of three people, ejecting the driver. Injured and barely coherent, with a blood alcohol level four times the legal limit, April over-heard the EMT’s radio that the driver was dead at the scene. With death and destruction surrounding her, April’s first thought was an alcoholic one: “How can I get out of this?” Even though she’d been in AA years earlier and had also been in treatment, her disease made her amnesic to the right thoughts about what to do. Thus began April’s odyssey on the road of dire emotional, legal, financial, and psychological consequences of her drunken behavior. The tragic crash became the bottom from which April’s sobriety finally emerged. And it was in prison that she found a spiritual awakening by working the AA program and being of service to other alcoholic women. She set up meetings and put full effort into every measure of sober living one can hope for while incarcerated. By the time she was paroled, April was truly a changed women thanks to AA. Today, as an active member of the Program, she can be seen in meetings all over, sharing first-hand the agony of a story that, thank God, we can all benefit from without having to experience it.

In many ways, , April's story is the kind of nightmare that can only be described as the one that recovering alcoholics refer to when we say, “There but for the grace of God, go I”.

Attitudes about drunk driving vary, even among recovering alcoholics. Those of us whose stories include drunk driving often express gratitude to God for having escaped potentially grievous and deadly outcomes of our drinking.  Many non-alcoholics would just as soon want someone like April locked up for good. But those of us recovering from alcoholism understand the true nature of this disease and how it wrecks lives. We also understand how sharing that experience can save lives.  Personally, while I’m somewhat vexed and saddened by April’s story, I am incredibly grateful that she has been sober since that fateful day. Knowing that she is sober and sharing her experience, strength, and hope with others, both inside and outside AA, gladdens my heartfelt outlook for the potential for healing from alcoholism one day at a time.

So please enjoy the next hour and ten minutes of AA Recovery Interviews as you listen to the inspiring words of my friend and AA sister, April T.

Check out Howard’s Big Book Podcast, the complete unabridged audio version of the First and Second Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. The Big Book Podcast is an engaging cover-to-cover, word-for-word reading of all 11 chapters and Personal Stories, many of which were left out of the Third and Fourth Editions. Follow us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Or listen on https://bigbookpodcast.com

If you’ve enjoyed my AA Recovery Interviews series and my Big Book podcast, have a listen to Lost Stories of the Big Book, 30 Original Stories Missing from the 3rd and 4th Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. It’s an engaging audiobook I narrated to bring these stories to life for AA members who’ve never seen them. These timeless testamonials were originally cut to make room for newer stories in the 3rd and 4th Editions. But their vitally important messages of hope are as meaningful today as when they were first published. Many listeners will hear these stories for the first time. Lost Stories of the Big Book is available on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes. It’s also available as a Kindle book if you’d like to read along with the audio.

[Disclaimer: AA Recovery Interviews podcast strictly adheres to AA’s 12 Traditions and all General Service Office guidelines for safe-guarding anonymity on-line. I pay all podcast production costs and no one receives financial gain from the show. AA Recovery Interviews and my guests do not speak for or represent AA at-large. This podcast is simply my way of giving back to AA that which has been so freely given to me. -Howard L.]

Dhom grew up in a poor village in the Philippines. Regularly drinking alcohol by age 14, he joined a gang and was involved in violent and illegal activities. The power of his growing alcoholism and disregard for his own life were acted out in various crimes and games of Russian roulette with a loaded .38 caliper revolver. Run-ins with the law became more frequent and he believed a geographic move to London would ease his troubles. But his worsening alcoholism accompanied Dhom and was fueled to new heights by the easy and attractive pubs he found on every corner. Soon, he was involved with nefarious friends and was being banned from many of those pubs because of his brutal behavior. His disregard for his own safety culminated in heavier drinking and instigating fights with night club bouncers. Dhom managed to function long enough to marry and have a child, but his violent and abusive behavior spurred on by ceaseless drinking, inevitably resulted in his wife leaving him and taking their son with her. As his bottom was fast approaching, Dhom’s moment of clarity emerged out of a black-out in the form of a scrolling advertisement at the bottom of a TV screen with a phone number to get help. He crawled over to the phone, made the call, and was soon attending AA.

Dhom encountered many challenges early in his AA sobriety, not the least of which was feeling isolated in meetings where there were few other Asians and/or people of color. But he persevered and soon discovered a broad cross-section of recovering alcoholics with whom he could trust his life. He got a sponsor, worked the steps, became involved in service work, and sponsored others. By the time he moved from London to Ottawa, his entire life had been improved by his active participation in Alcoholics Anonymous.

Dhom’s tale is rich, colorful, and inspiring. If you listen closely, I think you’ll find many similarities in his story that might not otherwise be familiar. But it’s a story that has a solid place among the other stories on this podcast series. So, please invest the next hour with this episode of AA Recovery Interviews with my with my affable friend and AA brother, Dhom R.

Check out Howard’s Big Book Podcast, the complete unabridged audio version of the First and Second Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. The Big Book Podcast is an engaging cover-to-cover, word-for-word reading of all 11 chapters and Personal Stories, many of which were left out of the Third and Fourth Editions. Follow us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Or listen on https://bigbookpodcast.com

If you’ve enjoyed my AA Recovery Interviews series and my Big Book podcast, have a listen to Lost Stories of the Big Book, 30 Original Stories Missing from the 3rd and 4th Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. It’s an engaging audiobook I narrated to bring these stories to life for AA members who’ve never seen them. These timeless testamonials were originally cut to make room for newer stories in the 3rd and 4th Editions. But their vitally important messages of hope are as meaningful today as when they were first published. Many listeners will hear these stories for the first time. Lost Stories of the Big Book is available on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes. It’s also available as a Kindle book if you’d like to read along with the audio.

[Disclaimer: AA Recovery Interviews podcast strictly adheres to AA’s 12 Traditions and all General Service Office guidelines for safe-guarding anonymity on-line. I pay all podcast production costs and no one receives financial gain from the show. AA Recovery Interviews and my guests do not speak for or represent AA at-large. This podcast is simply my way of giving back to AA that which has been so freely given to me. -Howard L.]

Marianna's story that will resonate instantly with those of us who’ve been raised in families in which frequent moves disrupted the process of simply growing up. In Marianna’s case, her family moved numerous times around the United States and Europe when she was young. Her gregarious façade, aided by early and regular use of alcohol, hid her true feelings of loneliness and isolation. Her innate talents as an artist, writer, model, and actress allowed her to achieve moderate success in her late teens and early twenties. But heavy drinking, accompanied by escalating drug use, put a serious drag on Marianna’s accomplishments and she found herself seeking a geographic fix by moving to London. Not surprisingly, the disease had relocated with her and she soon found herself languishing in self-pity, hopeless demoralization, and the inability to stop drinking. By the time she was 25, her alcoholism kept her mostly homeless with very little left to lose. Like many who are thorough beaten by alcohol, Marianna entered AA as her lone option for survival.

Since that day in 1991, Marianna has embraced sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous and has worked the Program in all aspects of her life. She met and married a fellow recovering alcoholic and, together, they raised a daughter using the good orderly direction they gained in AA as the foundation of their parenting abilities. And though the gifts of sobriety materialized in the form of good tidings, those same gifts have helped pull her through devasting life events, including her battle with breast cancer.  And while she readily admits intervals of infrequent meeting attendance, she’s never strayed too far from the Program. In fact, recent years of Zoom meetings have ramped up her participation in AA to a maximum level of spiritual confidence and service to others.

I believe you find many aspects of Marianna’s story with which you can readily identify. Her story is instructive, encouraging, and quite entertaining. So please enjoy this episode of AA Recovery Interviews with my with my splendid friend and AA sister, Marianna L.

Check out Howard’s Big Book Podcast, the complete unabridged audio version of the First and Second Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. The Big Book Podcast is an engaging cover-to-cover, word-for-word reading of all 11 chapters and Personal Stories, many of which were left out of the Third and Fourth Editions. Follow us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Or listen on https://bigbookpodcast.com

If you’ve enjoyed my AA Recovery Interviews series and my Big Book podcast, have a listen to Lost Stories of the Big Book, 30 Original Stories Missing from the 3rd and 4th Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. It’s an engaging audiobook I narrated to bring these stories to life for AA members who’ve never seen them. These timeless testamonials were originally cut to make room for newer stories in the 3rd and 4th Editions. But their vitally important messages of hope are as meaningful today as when they were first published. Many listeners will hear these stories for the first time. Lost Stories of the Big Book is available on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes. It’s also available as a Kindle book if you’d like to read along with the audio.

[Disclaimer: AA Recovery Interviews podcast strictly adheres to AA’s 12 Traditions and all General Service Office guidelines for safe-guarding anonymity on-line. I pay all podcast production costs and no one receives financial gain from the show. AA Recovery Interviews and my guests do not speak for or represent AA at-large. This podcast is simply my way of giving back to AA that which has been so freely given to me. -Howard L.]

Paul's older brother and sister both died of liver disease caused by their intravenus drug use and untreated alcoholism. Paul’s own liver disease surfaced years into his AA recovery, but the irreparable damage he had done with heroin and heavy drinking in his teens and twenties persisted, only to drop him at death’s door three years ago. With zero liver function and two failed transplant attempts, his journey seemed at a tragically predictable end. But a last-minute liver transplant, followed by additional surgeries and 17 days in the ICU, helped Paul hang onto life. Since then, his vitality has returned.

Paul credits his Higher Power and the prayers and presence of his AA fellowship for his own survival. Today he is more active than ever in his Program. His experience and hard work in sobriety, both before and after his transplant, put his own past into sharp focus. Ardent step-work with a no-nonsense sponsor, helped him understand the dysfunction in his family of origin and his own history of loneliness and isolation. Without shutting the door on the past, Paul gained valuable insights into his own behaviors, both before and after joining AA. He also realized the absolute importance of meetings, service work, and fellowship after enduring a number of glum years during which sparse participation in the Program took its toll.

As a cautionary tale, Paul’s story is one of the best at illustrating the ups and downs of sobriety. That his present-day story is one of unquestionable reliance on a Higher Power and AA, is proof-positive of the redemptive power available to all who seek solution in the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous. I’m grateful Paul is alive today to share his experience, strength, and hope with listeners of AA Recovery Interviews.  So I invite you to sit back and enjoy the next hour and ten minutes with my good friend and AA brother, Paul D.

Ryan grew up in a chaotic home where addiction was a best-kept secret. As an only child, Ryan’s family had also moved more than ten times by the time he was 12. Dealing with the constant loss of whatever brief friendships he experienced, the impermanence of his relationships fueled not only feelings of loneliness and isolation, but also the need to act out. Believing that alcohol and drugs would fix what was wrong with his life, Ryan opened the throttle on his growing disease during his teenage years. By 19, Ryan’s behavior warranted a short stint in AA where his half-hearted attempt was largely ineffective. Five more years of drinking and drugging landed him at inpatient treatment, followed by IOP, but once again prideful intellectualism and ego conspired with his alcoholism, and forced another slip. Landing in the same mire as before, Ryan continued to flail the disease and the mounting problems it caused during the next five years. By April of 2017, his quality of life deteriorating, Ryan finally came to AA with the willingness and desire to do whatever was necessary to achieve sobriety.

With a new commitment to stay sober, Ryan implemented all of the tools needed to succeed at sobriety. He got a sponsor and worked the steps. He attended daily meetings. He took on service responsibilities, including staffing the coffee bar four days-a-week at a large AA club. He also found time to sponsor men and attend AA retreats. The net effect of all his sincere efforts was a spiritual awareness and awakening that wholly enriched the quality of his Program.

I’ve learned a lot from Ryan during the time we’ve spent together and am pleased to see his outstretched hand of welcome to those who attend the meetings we go to each week. But for those who are relatively new in sobriety, Ryan’s demonstration of a well-worked Program will provide significant hope and inspiration for a brighter future.

So please enjoy listening to this episode of AA Recovery Interviews as you spend the next 65 minutes with my good friend and AA brother, Ryan A.

Check out Howard’s Big Book Podcast, the complete unabridged audio version of the First and Second Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. The Big Book Podcast is an engaging cover-to-cover, word-for-word reading of all 11 chapters and Personal Stories, many of which were left out of the Third and Fourth Editions. Follow us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Or listen on https://bigbookpodcast.com

If you’ve enjoyed my AA Recovery Interviews series and my Big Book podcast, have a listen to Lost Stories of the Big Book, 30 Original Stories Missing from the 3rd and 4th Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. It’s an engaging audiobook I narrated to bring these stories to life for AA members who’ve never seen them. These timeless testamonials were originally cut to make room for newer stories in the 3rd and 4th Editions. But their vitally important messages of hope are as meaningful today as when they were first published. Many listeners will hear these stories for the first time. Lost Stories of the Big Book is available on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes. It’s also available as a Kindle book if you’d like to read along with the audio.

[Disclaimer: AA Recovery Interviews podcast strictly adheres to AA’s 12 Traditions and all General Service Office guidelines for safe-guarding anonymity on-line. I pay all podcast production costs and no one receives financial gain from the show. AA Recovery Interviews and my guests do not speak for or represent AA at-large. This podcast is simply my way of giving back to AA that which has been so freely given to me. -Howard L.]

Tilda B. is an AA member from the other side of the world in Nairobi, Kenya. She grew up in London, where she did most of her alcoholic drinking before getting sober over 28 years ago. Within her first several years of sobriety among London’s vibrant AA community, Tilda was offered a dream job in Kenya and has lived there since. Amidst a different culture, with its own norms related to alcoholism, Tilda’s relatively brief experience in Alcoholics Anonymous in England helped her quickly acclimate to Nairobi’s AA community. When Zoom emerged in the past several years, she re-connected with people with whom she’d gotten sober, and it was on Zoom that I first met Tilda. Her backstory is as colorful, yet tragic, as many in this podcast series, replete with a dysfunctional family rattled by alcoholism. Finding booze and people who drank, Tilda created her own world that alternated between drunken comfort and turbulent chaos, but, like many, she was still functional enough to achieve a higher education and some important jobs. But, towards the end of her drinking, she lost what little control she’d had and her life devolved into abject misery and self-loathing.

By the time Tilda crossed the threshold of Alcoholics Anonymous, she was thoroughly beaten by the disease. Sitting in the back of one of London’s largest AA meetings, she finally surrendered to the people and the Program. She quickly got a sponsor, worked the steps, attended daily meetings, sponsored other women, and became ensconced in AA service work.

Though moving to Kenya relatively early in her sobriety meant leaving the comfort and security of her AA fellowship in England, Tilda understood the absolute importance of establishing a strong Program in her new country. Throughout her long-term sobriety, she has become firmly rooted in Nairobi’s AA community with fellow Brits, other ex-pats, and local Kenyans at the heart of her program.

Tilda’s story is both fascinating and inspiring, and should provide hope and assurance to any AA members facing relocation to another city, state, or country, that AA sobriety is attainable and sustainable anywhere in the world. So sit back, and please enjoy the next hour with my friend and AA sister, Tilda B.

Check out Howard’s Big Book Podcast, the complete unabridged audio version of the First and Second Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. The Big Book Podcast is an engaging cover-to-cover, word-for-word reading of all 11 chapters and Personal Stories, many of which were left out of the Third and Fourth Editions. Follow us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Or listen on https://bigbookpodcast.com

If you’ve enjoyed my AA Recovery Interviews series and my Big Book podcast, have a listen to Lost Stories of the Big Book, 30 Original Stories Missing from the 3rd and 4th Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. It’s an engaging audiobook I narrated to bring these stories to life for AA members who’ve never seen them. These timeless testamonials were originally cut to make room for newer stories in the 3rd and 4th Editions. But their vitally important messages of hope are as meaningful today as when they were first published. Many listeners will hear these stories for the first time. Lost Stories of the Big Book is available on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes. It’s also available as a Kindle book if you’d like to read along with the audio.

[Disclaimer: AA Recovery Interviews podcast strictly adheres to AA’s 12 Traditions and all General Service Office guidelines for safe-guarding anonymity on-line. I pay all podcast production costs and no one receives financial gain from the show. AA Recovery Interviews and my guests do not speak for or represent AA at-large. This podcast is simply my way of giving back to AA that which has been so freely given to me. -Howard L.]

Gary grew up in a family in which his father was a well-known band leader and his mother was literally the singer in the band. But, the chaotic lifestyle and his mother’s alcoholism were a constant source of conflict between his parents. High school at a military academy provided some respite from the discord at home, but alcohol still found its way into Gary’s life. By the time he was in college, Gary’s attraction to drinking was matched only by the business acumen he’d acquired from his father. Managing his own successful pop band while booking others, success in his end of the music industry accelerated. But so did his alcohol use. Brief stints of sobriety were cobbled together by sheer will power, but he still couldn’t stop. By the time his ability to function under the influence began to wane, the realization that he was an alcoholic who needed help struck him hard. Fortunately, Gary’s interlude of clarity occurred when he ran into a friend he’d not seen in a long time who told Gary of his sobriety through AA. The seed planted, Gary procrastinated calling his friend, but eventually connected with him and went to his first meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Gary’s tale is one of complete commitment to AA and the constant recognition of its primary importance in his life. Events and circumstances which challenge even the most committed AAs have been taken in stride and Gary credits continuous practice of the Program basics for his ability to weather difficult times. The gifts of sobriety appear with regularity in Gary’s life and his ability to share that with others makes him a valued friend to many and an esteemed member of his AA community.

I think you’ll dig Gary’s easy-going manner and his revealing story of contented sobriety. So please enjoy the next 60 minutes of AA Recovery Interviews with my friend and AA brother Gary G.

Check out Howard’s Big Book Podcast, the complete unabridged audio version of the First and Second Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. The Big Book Podcast is an engaging cover-to-cover, word-for-word reading of all 11 chapters and Personal Stories, many of which were left out of the Third and Fourth Editions. Follow us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Or listen on https://bigbookpodcast.com

If you’ve enjoyed my AA Recovery Interviews series and my Big Book podcast, have a listen to Lost Stories of the Big Book, 30 Original Stories Missing from the 3rd and 4th Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. It’s an engaging audiobook I narrated to bring these stories to life for AA members who’ve never seen them. These timeless testamonials were originally cut to make room for newer stories in the 3rd and 4th Editions. But their vitally important messages of hope are as meaningful today as when they were first published. Many listeners will hear these stories for the first time. Lost Stories of the Big Book is available on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes. It’s also available as a Kindle book if you’d like to read along with the audio.

[Disclaimer: AA Recovery Interviews podcast strictly adheres to AA’s 12 Traditions and all General Service Office guidelines for safe-guarding anonymity on-line. I pay all podcast production costs and no one receives financial gain from the show. AA Recovery Interviews and my guests do not speak for or represent AA at-large. This podcast is simply my way of giving back to AA that which has been so freely given to me. -Howard L.]

When Chris attended meetings at our AA clubhouse in 2007, many of us watched with concern as he slipped a half-dozen times before locking in his sobriety date two years later. What’s unusual about Chris’ story is that he very seldom drank until he was in his early 40’s, despite the fact that he had experienced abject loneliness and isolation since childhood. Throw in low confidence, poor self-esteem, and feelings of self-loathing and you get the picture of man who somehow survived a dysfunctional marriage, and the raising of 3 children, without the help of alcohol or drugs. It wasn’t until his second marriage that Chris found alcohol and cocaine and his whole world changed. Relishing the feeling he’d been looking for his entire life, he set out to make up for lost time. Naturally, it didn’t take long for alcoholism to pull the rug out from under him. As booze and drugs rapidly eroded his life, Chris ended up in a psychiatric hospital where he experienced, for the first time, AA meetings brought in from the outside.

Chris started drinking again not long after he got out, but the AA seed had been planted. He went to meetings and even half-heartedly worked the Program, but it took six desire chips over two years before he put the bottle down for good. Sponsored by one of the AA club’s legendary members, Chris’ Program finally took hold. Over the years, I’ve watched Chris become a “middle-dweller” in the Program. He’s a regular meeting attendee, a reliable sponsor, and a trusted servant to both the club and the general AA community. In the process of being of service, Chris has also taken meetings into Texas prisons over the past five years.

I’m grateful for Chris’ presence in AA and in my life, which these days are, one-in-the-same. His ready smile and easy-going nature make all feel comfortable. He’s a daily fixture in our AA club and has become the guy who you hope to see in the next meeting you attend. I think you’ll enjoy the next 65 minutes with my fine friend and AA brother, Chris S.

Check out Howard’s Big Book Podcast, the complete unabridged audio version of the First and Second Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. The Big Book Podcast is an engaging cover-to-cover, word-for-word reading of all 11 chapters and Personal Stories, many of which were left out of the Third and Fourth Editions. Follow us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Or listen on https://bigbookpodcast.com

If you’ve enjoyed my AA Recovery Interviews series and my Big Book podcast, have a listen to Lost Stories of the Big Book, 30 Original Stories Missing from the 3rd and 4th Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. It’s an engaging audiobook I narrated to bring these stories to life for AA members who’ve never seen them. These timeless testamonials were originally cut to make room for newer stories in the 3rd and 4th Editions. But their vitally important messages of hope are as meaningful today as when they were first published. Many listeners will hear these stories for the first time. Lost Stories of the Big Book is available on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes. It’s also available as a Kindle book if you’d like to read along with the audio.

[Disclaimer: AA Recovery Interviews podcast strictly adheres to AA’s 12 Traditions and all General Service Office guidelines for safe-guarding anonymity on-line. I pay all podcast production costs and no one receives financial gain from the show. AA Recovery Interviews and my guests do not speak for or represent AA at-large. This podcast is simply my way of giving back to AA that which has been so freely given to me. -Howard L.]