Graduating 150 Out of 152 and Feeling Good About It – Sandy B.

About This Speaker Tape

150 out of 152. Sandy B. graduated near the bottom of her class, convinced she was dumb and unwanted. Born legally blind and colorblind, she spent her childhood in the shade of school buildings to avoid the glare and the teasing, feeling the heavy undertow of silence in a home marked by the death of a brother. Alcohol became the only thing that made her feel smart and comfortable. She spent years drinking in secret, putting her children to bed early so she could pass out alone.

The wreckage peaked with a desperate prayer: change me or let me die. After a rocky start—including reading the Big Book while drinking beer—Sandy found a Higher Power through the blunt honesty of sponsors who told her to stop being terminally unique. She traded the bottle for a coffee shop business and a college degree, eventually graduating magna cum laude. Now, she views her past as a gift, using her vision impairment to walk other blind alcoholics toward recovery.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Opening joke about 'double-digit sobriety' (ten days).
• 2:15 Recounting the childhood tragedy of her brother Joe's death.
• 6:40 Description of the 'beer busts' at Mickey Gillies in Houston.
• 10:15 The desperate prayer: 'Higher Power either change me or let me die'.
• 13:20 The 12-step call where the women call 'bullshit' on her reasons for drinking.
• 16:45 The story of the old man and the wild stallion as a lesson in the Third Step.
• 21:30 Experience in a psychiatric hospital and the decision to leave her marriage.
• 26:10 Starting a coffee shop business in San Antonio through the Commission for the Blind.
• 31:40 The 'alcoholic's brain' joke and graduating magna cum laude.
• 36:20 Detailed explanation of using the written Tenth Step to handle resentment over a hotel room.
• 41:10 Breaking anonymity to help a young man who overdosed in the emergency room.
• 45:30 Announcement that her story was selected for the fourth edition of the Big Book.