Joining us from Nairobi, Kenya, Kassie recently celebrated seven years of sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous. Raised amidst the pomp and circumstance of the diplomatic corps, large, formal parties were a weekly occurrence in her family and she learned about alcohol’s importance early in her upbringing. Spending her high school and college years in America further developed Kassie’s abilities to drink and function effectively as a budding alcoholic. Her career roles as a leader of note in a number of humanitarian organizations around the world placed her squarely in the middle of a lifestyle in which she could control people and situations around her for many years, despite her growing dependence on alcohol. Her drunken behavior and negative consequences from drinking forced the use of many escape hatches along the way. But as Kassie’s disease took firm hold of her life, she found fewer and fewer means of escape from the cruel realities of being an alcoholic woman. By the time she found AA in early 2017, the repeated beatings from the disease had finally made Kassie teachable. She found a good sponsor, worked the 12 Steps, and allowed the Program to envelop her well-being. Despite the many challenges she has encountered during her sobriety, she has found comfort in the Program and faith that her higher-power will provide what she needs to remain vital and effective in life.

Kassie’s story of seven years of sobriety is insightful and encouraging, especially for those whose functional alcoholism kept or is keeping AA at-bay. Listen carefully for the next hour of so and you’re likely find many similarities in Kassie’s story and much hope for future success in Alcoholics Anonymous. So please welcome my friend and AA sister, Kassie M.

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 testimonials 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 and in Paperback from Amazon if you’d like to read along with the audio.

I also invite you to check out my latest audio book, “Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered From Alcoholism”. This is the word-for-word, cover-to-cover reading of the First Edition of the Big Book, published in 1939. It’s a comfortable, meaningful, and engaging way to listen to the Big Book anytime, anyplace. Have a free listen at Audible, i-Tunes, or Amazon.

[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. 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.]