I Set Out to Drink Men Under the Table as My Irish Birthright and Achieved My Goal – Mary Lee H.

About This Speaker Tape

Mary Lee H. from Sedona shares 33 years of sobriety with a June 8, 1987 sobriety date. Raised an only child in Burbank by a German Catholic RN mother and an Irish Catholic father who worked at Universal Studios, she grew up on the studio lot, learned to drive and ride bikes there, and discovered theater in public high school after rebelling against Catholic school. At UCLA she set out to drink men under the table as her Irish birthright, flunked out after four semesters, and chased the theater life through bars and bedrooms.

She married a Los Angeles County fireman, inherited two stepchildren, then delivered surprise twins at 1 lb 10 oz and 2 lb 3 oz. She was eating diet pills (speed) handed out by her nurse mother until one Saturday morning she flushed the whole bottle down the toilet. The first marriage collapsed, she met John in 1975, discovered her own brilliant mother was a secret scotch drinker hiding the half-gallon when Mary Lee came home from teaching night school, and watched her mother die in ICU saying "ain't this the shits."

The bottom came in June 1987 when she was making the bed and found a cut straw under John's side. She told him she would not live with cocaine in the house, and when he asked her to help him stop she heard herself say "I don't know how." A friend brought her a Big Book on a dark and stormy night. She read and underlined all night, went to her first meeting, drank the last of a champagne bottle the next day while her son Dan asked if he was an alcoholic, and never drank again.

Nancy Keller became her sponsor and family. She and John, sober two days longer so he still calls her newcomer, have been married 43 years and live in Sedona. At nearly 82 she practices steps one, two, and three daily, believes every event happened for her not to her, and closes by telling people they don't get to vote on whether she loves them.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Megan introduces Mary Lee H., sobriety date June 8, 1987, 33 years sober
• 3:00 Born at Cedars of Lebanon, growing up on the Universal lot where dad was superintendent of labor
• 7:00 Rebels against Catholic high school, transfers to public Burbank High, discovers drama as a senior elective
• 11:00 At UCLA decides her Irish heritage means drinking men under the table, flunks out after four semesters
• 16:00 Meets first husband Patrick at a goodbye party while smoking a baby cigar, marries an LA County fireman with two kids
• 19:00 Flushes the entire bottle of diet pills (speed) down the toilet one Saturday morning
• 21:00 Delivers surprise twins, Amy 1 lb 10 oz and Dan 2 lb 3 oz, on October 13
• 28:00 Discovers her RN mother is a secret scotch drinker hiding the bottle when Mary Lee comes home from night school
• 32:00 Mother dies in ICU saying 'ain't this the shits' just before Christmas
• 38:00 Finds cut cocaine straw under John's side of the bed, says 'I don't know how' to help him stop, friend brings her the Big Book
• 44:00 Drinks the last inch of champagne while son Dan asks 'Mom, do you think I'm an alcoholic'
• 49:00 Closes by telling Linda R and the room they don't get to vote on whether she loves them