The Detox Center That Dried Them Out Just to Get Them Healthy Enough to Drink – Mike B.

About This Speaker Tape

A childhood spent in fear and a teenage descent into blackout drinking led Mike B. to a life of drifting through cable vision vans and biker bars. He describes a wreckage of broken vehicles a marriage forged in a beer joint and a violent outburst that left his wife with fifteen stitches in her head.

The turning point arrived in a courtroom where a judge offered a stark choice: two years in the penitentiary or AA. After a failed attempt at white-knuckling and a brutal relapse that left him staring at a 'wild animal' in a hotel mirror Mike surrendered to a rigorous program of action. He details the grit of early sobriety—living in a van working the steps with a sponsor who still fought at picnics—and the eventual peace of reconciling with his dying mother.

He now finds his purpose in the 'intense work' of institution service hauling the truth into prisons.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Introduction by Larry S. and welcome to the group.
• 5:15 Mike B. describes his 'redneck' wife Kathy and their shotgun-shooting hobbies.
• 12:30 Discussion on the 'Big Town Group' and the importance of creating the fellowship one craves.
• 18:45 Early life in Charlotte and the first time he felt the 'power' of alcohol at age 12.
• 26:10 Stories of blackout drinking and living in a cable vision van.
• 35:40 The violent incident with his first wife and the subsequent courtroom ultimatum.
• 44:15 The first relapse after eight months of sobriety and the 'wild animal' in the mirror.
• 52:00 Working the 12 Steps with a sponsor and the discussion of the 'phenomenon of craving'.
• 1:02:10 The flood that destroyed his antique furniture and the support of the AA fellowship.
• 1:15:30 Reconciling with his mother and being present for her death from lung cancer.
• 1:25:00 Institution work and the experience of taking speakers into prisons.
• 1:35:00 Closing thoughts on the 'starfish' story and the final applause from the group.