Three DUIs in Cobb County and the Ultimatum That Finally Stuck – David H.

About This Speaker Tape

David H. shares from the 12 Step Titans group with six years of sobriety, sobriety date January 15, 2020. An only child who barely knew his father (nine times in 42 years), David describes being an alcoholic before his first drink at 14 — never comfortable in his own skin, the black sheep, always breaking things. He drank from his grandmother's liquor cabinet, emptied a NyQuil bottle to smuggle his first spiked bottle of Absolut to freshman year, and coasted through high school by the skin of his teeth. A PlayStation 2 traded for a 12-pack of Heineken led to a wreck, a blood clot in his brain, and a life-flight to the hospital — followed immediately by his first DUI when he got home to his mother's house.

He joined the Navy as a geographic cure, got stationed in California, and kept drinking through a third DUI in Cobb County. An ultimatum landed him at Triangle Club, where his first meeting was spent hiding vodka in his trunk. A young newcomer told him he couldn't drink anymore, and he bargained a six-pack-a-weekend compromise that never held. He entered the gates of hell — suicidal, getting written up at work, unable to drink the way he wanted. In March 2020, three months before the pandemic locked down, he asked a quiet man at a Tuesday dinner meeting to be his sponsor. The sponsor said call me every day — no set time — which forced David past his excuses and taught him to reach out before life broke him.

Almost homeless in his first year, David worked the Steps with his sponsor. The third step redefined his Higher Power through a friend's characteristics — loving, understanding, faithful. The fourth and fifth steps freed him from secrets he'd been hauling since childhood. The ninth step amends to family came easy; the amend to his ex broke a relationship but gave him grace. Without the numbing he'd used since 14, his brain wouldn't shut up until he learned to sit in it rather than go around it. Today he pours back into people — the same fellowship that poured into him when he came in with nothing.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Introduction — David H. from 12 Step Titans, six years sober, sobriety date January 15, 2020
• 2:30 Only child, father seen nine times in 42 years, alcoholic before his first drink
• 5:00 First drink at 14, emptying a NyQuil bottle at grandmother's house for his first spiked Absolut
• 10:00 PlayStation 2 traded for a 12-pack of Heineken — car wreck, blood clot in the brain, life-flighted
• 14:00 First DUI delivered by the Newton County sheriff the same day he got home from the hospital
• 17:00 Navy as a geographic cure — stationed in California, three DUIs all in Cobb County
• 22:00 First meeting at Triangle Club with vodka stashed in the trunk
• 28:00 Asking his sponsor at a Tuesday dinner meeting — call me every day, no set time
• 36:00 Third step — redefining Higher Power through the characteristics of a friend
• 45:00 Ninth-step amend to his ex ends the relationship; first time his brain wouldn't shut up, learning to sit in it