The AA Child: Watching Recovery at Home and Drinking Anyway – Beth H.

About This Speaker Tape

Beth shares at the Aim for AIMs conference in Iowa in 2003, sober since June 26, 1988. Growing up with a dad in AA, she knew the program existed but avoided identifying as alcoholic. She describes her obsession with how things looked, her inability to have a conversation, and her fear-driven isolation.

She drank from 15, left college, moved to the Florida Keys where she had keys to seven bars, got fired, and eventually had her children removed from her custody. After two treatments, inheriting money, and years of geographic cures, she surrendered after reading Bills story one desperate night. She learned the phenomenon of craving in her own kitchen — every day pouring one drink and finishing the bottle.

She got custody of her children back in 1993, remarried in AA, and describes the moment riding bikes with her family on Huffy bicycles as proof that Higher Power fills the other side of the scale.

Topics

Timestamps

• 00:00 Growing up with a dad in AA and knowing the program existed
• 08:00 Obsession with how things looked and fear-driven isolation
• 16:00 Drinking from fifteen, leaving college, and moving to the Florida Keys
• 24:00 Keys to seven bars, getting fired, and children removed from custody
• 32:00 Two treatments, inheriting money, and years of geographic cures
• 40:00 Surrendering after reading Bills story one desperate night
• 48:00 The phenomenon of craving — pouring one drink and finishing the bottle every day
• 56:00 Riding Huffy bicycles with her family as proof that Higher Power fills the other side