The Inventories That Saved His Skinny A** – Gary B.

About This Speaker Tape

A skeletal 25-year-old weighing 130 pounds Gary B. found himself on a Greyhound bus to the Wyoming State Hospital after a final brutal talk with his father-in-law. He spent four years in AA as a 'dry' alcoholic—writing bad checks and waking up terrified—before landing in the Denver Young People's Group.

There he joined a circle of 14 men on 'Goat Hill' who stripped away the gurus and focused on the black print and white page of the Big Book. Through the influence of a man who survived aversion therapy and a complicated friendship with a man named Ernie Gary B. moved from mere abstinence to a spiritual awakening.

He describes the slow closing of the 'hole in his belly' and the realization that the only way to stay well is to keep working the steps in order a process he credits to a Higher Power's design rather than his own effort.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:45 Gary B. shares his sobriety date: December 3, 1964.
• 2:10 The 'tough talk' with his father-in-law and the Greyhound bus ride to the Wyoming State Hospital.
• 5:15 The realization that he was 'just dry' and the pain of the four years before finding the 12 Steps.
• 8:30 Description of the York Street Club in Denver and the smoke-filled ballroom.
• 11:20 The 'Goat Hill' meetings: starting at the front of the Big Book with no gurus.
• 14:45 Discussion of Step 1 and the delusion of being able to manage his life.
• 17:10 Laughter: The story of Tom and the aversion therapy at Mount Airy.
• 21:00 The group prayer: 14 men holding hands and taking the Third Step prayer together.
• 24:30 The story of Ernie's Fifth Step in a boat on Lake Whitney.
• 28:15 Moving to Indianapolis and the culture shock of finding a group that didn't use the 12 Steps.
• 31:00 Reflection on the process of 'getting weller' by repeating the steps over 35 years.