Gordon R. got sober AA four months before Neil Armstrong put his foot on the moon. By the age of 28, in the spring of 1969, Gordon’s rapid descent into full-blown alcoholism had taken him from a burgeoning career as a globe-trotting engineer to panhandling on the streets of New York City. Fortunately, when he found the Program, the old-timers who’d been sober since the very earliest days of AA took Gordon under their care and helped him build the solid foundation on which his Program stills stands strong and thrives more than a half-century later.

Gordon’s story of sobriety is one of both triumph and tragedy, of a path well-traveled thanks to his consistent involvement in Alcoholics Anonymous. Gordon’s rich experiences in working an active program, which includes frequent meetings, are both instructive and inspirational to all who wonder about the possibility of actually achieving long-term sobriety. Today’s show with Gordon R. is about 90 minutes long with the best audio quality Zoom was able to provide on interview day. But, whether you listen to it straight-through or in segments, my hope is that you’ll find what you’ve been waiting to hear. With that, I welcome to AA Recovery Interviews my good friend and AA brother, Gordon R.

Visit the AA Recovery Interviews website for more information and to contact me, Howard L.

Join our Facebook Group and share your own experience, strength, and hope with other AAs.

To contact Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, visit aa.org.

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. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Or listen on https://bigbookpodcast.com

[Disclaimer: In strict adherence to A.A.’s traditions, my anonymous guests and I speak for ourselves only, not for Alcoholics Anonymous at large. We share only our personal experiences with A.A. recovery. We acknowledge that AA’s sole concern is the recovery and continued sobriety of those alcoholics who turn to the Fellowship for help. As members of AA, our primary purpose is to stay sober and to help other alcoholics achieve sobriety. – Howard L.]