Fighting Fires for 24 Hours and Drinking Like a Pig for 48 – Jim M.

About This Speaker Tape

Jim M. shares his story at the Central Orlando Saturday Night Speaker meeting in July 2014, with a sobriety date of August 14, 2005. Born in 1954 in Orlando, he grew up in Narcoossee and Azalea Park with a solid family — his father was a civil service firefighter at the Air Force base, his mother a stay-at-home mom. Despite a good upbringing, Jim always felt apart from others and compensated through lying, stealing, and cheating. At thirteen he discovered his parents' liquor cabinet, liked the effect immediately, and never looked back.

Jim followed his father into fire service, joining Lake Barton Fire Control District in 1974. He loved the career but drank relentlessly on his 48 hours off — cursing drunk drivers on shift, then doing the same thing the next night. After his second DUI the department gave him an ultimatum: retire with benefits or get fired without them. He moved into stagehand union work, then took a job as a surgical orderly at Orlando General Hospital, where coworkers staged an intervention. He completed a 28-day rehab at Care Unit in Lake Mary, stayed sober nine months, then relapsed on New Year's and drank for roughly fifteen more years.

Through the late nineties and early 2000s Jim's drinking became around-the-clock — starting each morning with half vodka, half grapefruit juice. He racked up a third DUI, lost his driver's license repeatedly, and watched 9/11 unfold at the Marriott World Center while working a dental convention, an event that hit him hard as a former firefighter and intensified his drinking. In 2004 he suffered two alcohol-related seizures within months; both times he went straight from the ER to the bar. Bedridden with gout during the 2004 hurricanes, he could barely crutch to the kitchen to refill his vodka jug.

A former girlfriend arranged a twelve-step call in February 2005, and after a few more months of struggle Jim picked up a white chip on August 14, 2005. He threw himself into the ninety-in-ninety, spending full days at AA clubhouses — Blue Bottoms in the morning, Crossroads in the afternoon — then riding the bus home to his parents' house. He worked the steps with his sponsor Ernie, fighting every inch but staying sober. He eventually found his home at the Central Orlando noon meeting, where the diversity of the group kept him engaged. At nine years sober, Jim credits AA with giving him a life, noting he has never found a reason sufficient enough to pick up a drink again.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Meeting chair Derek opens with qualifications and introduces the speaker
• 2:30 Jim opens with the Seventh Step Prayer and begins his story — born 1954 in Orlando, childhood in Narcoossee
• 7:00 Feeling different as a kid — lying, stealing, and cheating to fit in, then discovering alcohol at thirteen
• 11:00 High school drug experimentation at Bishop Moore, weekend liquor runs, party scene in Azalea Park and Rio Pinar
• 16:00 Fire department career begins in 1974 — 24 hours on fighting fires, 48 hours off drinking like a pig
• 21:00 Forced retirement after second DUI, hospital orderly job, coworkers stage an intervention
• 27:00 Twenty-eight-day rehab at Care Unit in Lake Mary — elected head liaison but had no intention of staying sober
• 33:00 Nine months sober then relapses for years — morning vodka routine, third DUI, getting father's truck and license back
• 39:00 September 11 at the Marriott World Center, two seizures in 2004, bedridden with gout during the hurricanes
• 46:00 Twelve-step call in February 2005, picks up white chip August 14, ninety-in-ninety at Blue Bottoms and Crossroads, finding Central Orlando as home group