We Had to Fight for Women to Be in Alcoholics Anonymous – Liz B.

Wow! You light up my life. Without you there is no me. And I say that from deep down. I'd like to say good morning to everyone. Coming in the car today, we were saying this is the day that the Lord has made. Let us all be glad and rejoice in it. Stop whining and complaining. Now my name is Liz Bailey. My anonymity has been shot to hell for a long, long time. I am one of the many grateful alcoholics you ever laid your eyes on. So grateful that I live in the day and time of Alcoholics Anonymous because I've watched most of my loved ones die from lighting and all that kind of drinks years ago. But thank God that I came to AA at the age of 31, July the 11th, 1952. And I haven't been anywhere since but here. I've kept these seats warm for 60 years. Thank God. Thank God. Thank God. I want to take this opportunity and bear with me because I must do this. I want to thank Tom for writing me and inviting me again this year. I was here six years ago and I'm the same stuff warmed over. Because I didn't go out and get you no new story. It's the same one. Now I must be honest with you. There are many of you sitting in this audience this morning who have been so close in my life that I would take up the whole meeting thanking each one of them. But I want to first start thanking Dennis and Terry for picking me up in New York, taking the plane flight with me and giving me love and service all this time. Thank you so much. I want to thank Mary and Tom for their love and service to me. I am spoiled as the devil. I'm really rotten. I'm spoiled. I want to thank Vi. My guest. I never knew I was going to have a guest but I got one and I know her for 48 years. We've been growing together. Stand up Vi please. Rubica and Mary. Thank you. Thank you. Bye. Goodbye. Bye. Bye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. I'd like to spend some time with you. I said, I don't know how you're going to do that with all the people that I know. But I never knew I'd be rooming with her, so she got me. She really got me. I want to thank Kiki for being here. Kiki and I go back over 40 years. Most of you here, I go back over 35, 40 years with you. And I met Tom I. last night, and he was shocked. I'm supposed to be old and decrepit, but I got news for you all. My motor's running, honey. And I shock him when I walk up and say, hi, honey. Because I know I'm gone. You know, I was in AA for six months, and I wouldn't talk because there were no women here when I came. And finally, at six months, two men tricked me into... I'm just speaking, and I haven't shut up for 59 and a half years. I just finished covering the whole United States. That's why I'm learning to walk again. I did three states in a month. Too much. But I'm back walking, thank God for God. I've had 10 operations in this 60 years. I'm cut to pieces, drunk and sober. I've taken every one of these scars and turned them into stars. I don't have the poor me or the self-pity. I'm not allowed with that. Not at all. And I was trained into AA never to say no to anyone who asked anything of me. I love that. I love it. Because it's true, in the giving you receive, and in the giving you keep. This is a we fellowship. Remember that first word, W-E. That we can do together something I could never do. I want to congratulate this 56th year of convention. I want you to keep the doors open. You're the next legacy here. When I came to AA, AA was 17 years old. We had 150,000 members. Today we're 77 years old and there's 6 million members or more. I've been privileged to grow with it. I'm privileged to grow with this fantastic fellowship. And if you notice, everybody copied after the fellowship. AA, NA, PA, FA, OA, CA. Got all these As going. All from this powerful fellowship. Powerful fellowship. The voice, I want to thank you too for being such a beautiful voice. Your jokes are fantastic. And we're not a glum lot either. Remember that. We're not a glum lot. Please don't come into AA to drop dead. Please. Please. Come in here to live, baby. Live! It'll get so good it'll scare you to death. And that's why some of you go back out drinking again too, because you got it too good. Come on. Why did you go back? You got your home back, your wife back, your husband back, your children back. You got your job back. You got your car back. You got everything back and you blow it. Why did you blow it? Too good to handle. Too good to handle. I learned in Minnesota, I took it down off the wall here. Attitude plus gratitude will keep you in recovery. Find something every day to be grateful for. If it's just waking up and saying, good morning, God, instead of, oh, God, it's another morning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Do you try to get up and say, I receive this. I, I'm going right up. I stay up and bet. And I'll be in good shape until course. Did I play the game? Didn't I say that last time? Remember the mantis. Remember the mantis is a killed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . today. He said, yeah, we clean up nice. We do. We do. We really do. I drank for a period of 19 years. Age of 12, I had my first drink. And my mom gave me my first drink. She made rice wine from ingredients that she received from the welfare, such as rice and raisins and whatever. And she made it in large crockery. And she left myself and a little girl named Marion to sieve this rice wine through cheese cork. Now, to show you the difference, everybody's not alcoholic. Because Marion sieved and sipped two drinks and she went home. After two drinks, she went home. Not me. I stood there and sieved and sipped. Ooh, that stuff was good. I just sieved and sipped. Sieved and sipped. I put on a drunk at 12. That was a drunk. And I had to be padlocked into a side row for my protection. Now, I'm selling King Kong booze at the age of 14. It was King Kong. Believe me, it stood you straight and it milk knocked you down. And you told me to take mayonnaise, olive oil, butter, cream, line yourself up. I said, you know what, Liz? Then you can drink plenty and you can make good money. Well, that booze, that King Kong went all through the mayonnaise, the olive oil, the butter, the cream. So I stopped taking that. But I drank plenty of booze. I made good money, 40 cents a cream pitcher. And of course, I put a better table for my brother and sister. I'm the oldest of five. And I put shoes on their feet instead of sneakers. And I put a better table for my brother and sister. Now, at the age of 14, I lived one flight up in Manhattan, right in front of Mother Cabrinha Hospital I lived. And I'm looking out the window one night and I see this sharp dude, girls. Oh, he was so sharp, almost fell out the window. Oh, he was the cutest little thing I ever did see. And he had a roll of money. I said, whoop, there's a live one. Always looking for a live one. I look for the live ones in AA, too. I don't deal with deadheads in AA. Senior citizens, I love you, but I can't take your moaning and groaning. So I latch on them young dudes, girls, who keep you going, honey. Yeah, that's who I latch on to. Uh-huh. So I ran downstairs and latched on to them. And I said, oh, I'm gonna catch up with you in four days. Out of the way, I'm gonna do a poor job at all I've been doing until a barre descent. And I've been in what, three Bunzels? Two Bunzels, yeah, for four years. Because they're pretty big. And he was a big guy, he didn't mean anything for me. Did you know that? He wasn't a fat man at nickel. Oh, the guy been гopught, ain't he. At oriented lockdown age, I waited on sous vide lighther. Back to Feeling exterior, and going, loving withnomies, and being . And we got shot up at one point. So I very much enjoyed working at the iterate ALL O oقي, N booze, making good money. So I want to get married. Mr. Bailey happened to be 10 years older than myself. So I asked my mother, would she sign for me to marry him? And she says, oh, no, dear, over my dead body. Well, I found out something about myself at the age of 14. I mean, don't you ever, but never tell me what I can't do. Don't do that. Don't do that, because I'm going to do it or die. And so I left New York with Mr. Bailey January 3rd, 1939, at 10 o'clock in the morning. I'm standing in the courthouse in Baltimore where I could sign for myself to be married. And I'm crying through the whole wedding ceremony. And Reverend Harris stopped the ceremony. He says, my dear young lady, would you mind telling me what you're crying about? I said, at last I got him. 14 to 17 was a long time. Well, I got to be honest with you, Mr. Bailey never stopped crying. From January 3rd, 1939, that man cried up until August the 12th, 1986. That was a sorry day for his life when he said, I do to Liz Oldridge. Oh, God. I came back with the marriage license in New York, 17. Baby, I'm going to tear up New York. Woo! I'm gone. Flying, my hair flying, I'm flying, everything flying. Now I'm married near two years, and I can't stop drinking, because I got to have a drink to wash, to iron, to cook, to talk, to sit out on the stoop, everything. I got to have a drink. And I watched me. And I didn't like that, but I didn't know anything about it. I thought that was the way you went. That was the way of life. So here again, I figured if I have a baby, maybe that baby will stop me from drinking. Two years of marriage, I had my first baby, a boy. He came in the world. I said, oh, God, give me a drink, please. The baby didn't even stop me. Well, I'll have another one for him. Keep him company. Had the second one. Ah! Give me a drink. So the babies didn't even stop me from drinking. And I'm watching me go down. Now I'm on my knees to Mr. Bailey all the time, because I'm meeting him coming in from work, and I'm going out the door. Where are you going, Liz? Get a quart of milk, a loaf of bread. I'd come back a week later, or whenever I could get back. And now I'm full. I'm full of guilt and remorse, because I don't want to live like this. This is not the way to live. I've got two beautiful children. And I'm sitting by the crib crying, because I can't take care of them. I'm drunk all the time. Neighbors help me a lot. Thank God for neighbors. And Mr. Bailey was a very good father, always. He was a good father to his children. In fact, he put all of them in college, and he bought two homes and paid for them before he died. He was a good father. He was a good worker, a very good man. But not me. I wasn't that good, and I have to admit it. And so again, I had the honor and privilege of speaking for our late co-founder Bill Wilson. I spoke for Bill Wilson's 28th anniversary. Hotel Commodore, 2700 people that night. Well, I asked Mr. Bailey to sit up on the dancers with me. He said, get yourself another husband for that night. So my girlfriend said, you going to ask him again? I said, no, because I'm the speaker. He showed up at three o'clock in the afternoon at the hotel. You guys lined up and thanked him for me. He couldn't handle that. He could not handle that. We arrived back at the house. He shook my hand when I finished speaking. I had bought a gold dress, gold shoes, gold bag. He got rid of all my clothes. He couldn't take that. And then he banged every pot on the stove. And he's screaming, I got to get rid of you. I can't stand you and this AA any longer. And I used the third and the eleventh step. Use your tools. Think the happiness I now know. Easy does it, but do it easily. Don't look for too much too soon. You wouldn't give a newborn baby a steak, would you? No. You'd nurse that baby along for a while. I liked Mary and them when they asked me at sponsorship yesterday. Is sponsorship the same today? No. You all are too easy on them. When I came in, they belted you. Because they meant what they said to you. They didn't play with you when I came in. And I wanted to be in that 50% bracket. And there was a 25% bracket. And there was another 25%. And I stayed in that 50% bracket. That's how I stayed sober. I stayed in it. But I got to tell you how I got to AA. One day Mr. Bailey came to me. And he said to me, you're the nicest wife when you're sober. Drunk, you're a Jekyll and a Hyde. Why don't you try this AA? Whoo! Why did he say that to me? You know I had a bad mouth. You know just what I told him to do with AA too, don't you? See, I've cleaned up my act a lot. I just finished telling this lady over here how when I came into AA I had high heels like this. I had slits up the back and slits down the back. I just tripped all over AA, baby. Whoo! I was tripping over it. Father Kelly sent me a message, a priest. Asked, I brought, what's she doing in AA? I said, oh my God, I'm not dressing right. I went on a 12-step call. Every word came out of my mouth was a curse word. The wife walked me to the door. She said, Liz, you're a lovely person, but do you have to have a mouth like that? I said, oh my God, I'm not talking right. I had to do a lot of work on me. I was 31 but 13 up here. And I knew nothing. I watched them today. They know everything. It hit the psyche ward. Don't make me laugh. Don't know too much. Listen to learn and learn to listen. That's what I had to do. I kept coming. I made seven meetings a week and three times on Sunday. I picked me a tough sponsor. Oh, did she belt me. I'd whine to her one day and she said to me, listen, there's barely AA don't need you, but you need AA. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh. And then I went back and whined some more. And she told me, sit on the pot. You know, she didn't say it this nice. But what she said she meant. Oh, get up off it. And she took me to seven meetings a week and three times on Sunday. Okay. That's how I got them. You build a foundation for yourself. For years in AA, I talked about that broken down ceiling. The ceiling kept breaking down. It kept getting this person to fit in. This person to fix it. And that person to fix it. Until they got to the fourth person. And the fourth person said, it's not the ceiling. It's your foundation. If you don't build a foundation, you will break down. Even without a drink. See. So I know that I built the foundation. And you know, we went into homes and wherever we were called for a drunk. We picked up drunks all over the place. Went two by two. Never go on alone. Never go alone. And I picked up more women and men off the floor with another person helping me. Cleaned up more children. Cooked for them. Cleaned houses and everything. On a 12-step call. You don't do that today. See how easy you got it today? When the rehabs opened up, it took all our 12-step calls away. I can't remember when I've had a 12-step call. I used to take them to Freeport Hospital and get them B12 shots. I worked all since the day I came into AA. The very first day, I got to tell you how I got to AA. There was a lady coming to visit. I never called this a home, girls. I had every material thing any woman would want. Mr. Bailey was a furrier. He made good money. I didn't have to work. That's why I had a lot of time to drink. And he'd make me drinks. He'd make me a new fur coat every time I had a little period of dryness. When I just couldn't drink anymore. It was coming out of my nose and ears and everything. So one year, he made me the most gorgeous leopard coat you ever laid your eyes on. He threw a party for the job and all. He brought the coat home and threw it out on the bed. And I looked at that leopard coat. I hated it. I gave it away. I said he made it so he could see it. He made it so he could spot me anywhere. Sick. Sick. Sick. And I remember one morning waking up with a hangover. Oh, what a hangover. I used to put a raw egg in beer for my hangover. And then one morning I decided to read the Bible. I reached over my night table, got the Bible. And I said, maybe I can find something in the Bible how I can straighten my life out. Because my head is coming off my body. And he passed my bedroom door and he saw me with the Bible. Put that Bible down, you hypocrite. Put it down. Twenty minutes to an hour, you'll be so drunk, you'll be slapping one of the kids down, swinging a corner or hopping a cab. I've never had a car in my whole sobriety. And I still have them white dudes picking me up, you know. And I upset my neighbors something terrible. Oh my God, from a drunk to this, what is she putting down? But thank God today I know what I'm putting down. But there was a day I didn't know what I was putting down. I couldn't tell you what was happening or where I was going to wake up at. So this particular morning, he spots me and he's screaming at me, put that Bible down. And I had told Mr. Bailey many, many times, when I'm on a drunk, shut up. And when I'm coming off a drunk, shut up. That meant I don't want to hear you either way. And he kept hollering at me about me with the Bible. I literally ran and jumped up in the second floor window. And as I went to throw my body down into the yard, there's a lady named Nana Backer down in the yard. She spots me standing up in the window. And she starts to screaming, Mr. Bailey, Mr. Bailey, you better get her. She's going to jump. And I see him come out the next window with his hands, Nana, and he was pleading with her. Please let her jump. Please let her jump. Oh, please. I'll be rid of all my problems, all my troubles. Please let her jump. Well, I guarantee you I got down out of that window. I sure did. Got back into that bed, pulled the sheet over me, and slipped that one off. Yeah. I come in and I have to have a famous last can of beer and a cigarette I used to smoke. I had my last cigarette. And sobriety, October 6, 1962. I haven't touched one since. I drank coffee here for 35 years. In 35 years of sobriety, I doubled over three days with coffee. I guarantee you from 35 to 60, I haven't touched no coffee. Mm-mm. You don't know. Anything that's going to make me unmanageable, baby, I get rid of it fast. Fast. Even Mr. Bailey. I got rid of him fast. Real fast. Because he didn't like me sober. And he told me one day, oh, you're not going to live without me. I said, oh, we'll see. I lived 24 years without him. And now, August the 12th, he'll be dead 26 years. So I'm living another 26 without him. So you can't say you can't live without somebody, because you sure can. If you live this long. If you live this program. You've got to have a program. You've got to have some tools to work without death. And thank God I use all the tools. Now, if I live to the 15th of this month, I'm going to be 91. Mm-mm. And what's so beautiful, I haven't lost a marble. That's the beautiful part. The other part, I'm still hopping planes and trains and buses and cars. And I'm still on the move. I'll tell you, my motor's running. This AA gas is wonderful. Yeah. I'm on the phone every day. I hate the phones, but I'm on them. I got one in the bathroom, one in the kitchen, one in the big room. I run all over the house on the phones all day long from morning to night. This is a vacation for me when I don't pick up a phone. I'll tell you. Vacation. But again, I'm coming to AA now because this lady is coming to sell some insurance for the house. And I really want to see her. Miss Lindbaum was her name. And so again, I straightened up, made salads. Now I'm drinking with hard, two-fisted drinkers in the VFW Hall on 110th and Merrick Road. You can find me on the stool there or at Sutton's Bar in Greenwich. I'm going to be there. But Sutton's Bar and Grill on Jamaica Avenue. Either place you could find me. That's where I live most of the time, in between them two bars. And I remember this guy called me from the Post, and I banged the phone up on him. He called me back the second time, and I told him, please don't bug me. I'm waiting for a lady, and I really want to see her. See, I know me now. I planned birthday parties. I planned nice things to do. But then after I did that, I had to go. But then after I'd get everything straightened out, I got to go to the bar now and have one to relax, you know, and two to get started. I'd come out the bar all black and blue because the person sitting next to me, lady, when you going home for your party? Oh, after the next drink. So that went on all night. I never made the parties that I was making. Everybody would be there but me. So I'm watching this. And again, the guilt and the remorse. Yes, guilt and remorse kill me because here I've done it again. And I don't want to do it again. I don't want to do it again. So I remember he called me the third time, this gentleman. And I remember that I said, Oh, he's going to drive me up the wall today. Let me get a cab and go over. Because he asked me to take a cab. He introduced me to the people that he wanted me to meet. And then he put me back in the cab, and he said, send me home. Well, when I woke up, I was in one of my son's twin beds. Please don't ask me how I got in that twin bed because I would never be able to tell anybody. But at the foot of that bed stood my mom and Mr. Bailey. And I could see them till today. My mom's head was going like this. And she was screaming to the rooftop, somebody done done something. Somebody done done something to her. And I look over at Mr. Bailey, he's got his head going. No mom. No mom. Nobody's done anything to her. She happens to be a very sick girl. Well, you know my name wasn't girl. My name started with a B. See, and that's what I knew when I came in here. I was one of everything. The B this, the B that, the B this. I got up out of the house, and I said, I got out of that bed and I went to the basement of the house. I stayed in the basement for two days praying to die. I really wanted out. And I started the second day in the basement. My oldest son was 12 years old at the time. May 7th he made 72 years old. My oldest son. And so, I looked at him and I said, Richard, I can't live like this. This is not the way I want to live. I live three blocks from the railroad. I'm going to go up on the railroad. I'm going to jump in front of a train and end it all. Instead, I started screaming, Oh God, oh God, oh God, please help me. And something claimed, if you get the seed of the seed, you're going to be a great man. And I said, well, I'm not going to be a great man. I'm going to be a great man. I'm going to be a great man. I'm going to get the seed of this AA. Mr. Bailey had planted the seed and I didn't know it. And that's why I said it yesterday. Anybody that ever crosses an AA door sill, you never drink and drug in peace again. I haven't seen it done. And I'm waiting for one of you to come back and tell me, Oh, it's so great out there. I've been waiting 60 years. I haven't heard you yet. Haven't heard you yet. Tell me it's so great. And now you're coming up. I'm back five days. I'm back 10 days. I'm back. Come welcome back. Welcome back. Nobody can judge you or condemn you in here. Thank God for that. We're all saved through the grace of God, not through our own graces. So here again, I decided after I called out to God, something said, try this AA that your father told me about. Took the telephone book down off the cabinet and called AA. Very few women were in AA when I came. In fact, they didn't want us women in AA. There's two women, Sheila and Sybil, from out in California, fought for us women to be in here. That's why I like to mention them. Because without those two women, I don't know if AA would have had women. But I thank God for Sylvia and Sheila, I think, Sybil, that they did that. And so I went into Manhattan. I went to the New York Times. I went to the New York Times. I went to the New York Times. Already at the end of the brochure, three female lawyers came in front of me and said, wow, there are two men backwards up south of раскembering this safe area. . But I don't know about you, but one very quiet day, I think it was 1 or 6 Saturdays, and we putcre secretly at oh, yeah, the Manhattan, Manhattan. and I go down to intergroup in Manhattan. We only had one intergroup at that time. Now over the years, every counter has their own intergroup, which is good. And I'm trying to get up the flight of stairs, and the lady, when I turned around, she looked down at me and she said, Are you having trouble? I said, Yes, ma'am. I could run at that time, so I ran up the stairs to her, she escorted me in the front part of the office. This is the first time in my life that I've ever heard anybody be honest about their wrongs. Never before. They always put it in the closet, under the bed, the rug. They'd hide everything from you. But this woman sat there and told me all about herself, and she kept hitting me between the eyes. And she said, She said to me, Liz, it's the first drink. I said, Oh, come on, sweetie. I've been drinking for 19 years. She said, When you pick up one drink of any type of alcohol, even down to cough medicine. Ooh, she hit me. I had a cold. I'm sitting out on the front stoop one day, and the baby's godfather came by, Lambert. He said, How you doing? I said, Oh, man, look at me. I got the worst cold. He went around to Cohen's Pharmacy and brought me back a bottle of cough medicine. He went in the house, brought me out a teaspoon, gave me a teaspoon. I get up and I go take two teaspoons, come back and sit. I go in and take three teaspoons, come back and sit. I went in and turned the bottle to my head. I went on a drunk that I hadn't even thought about having. I let it go. Just from the cough medicine. And then she kept on talking. And then she said, Liz, we do it with meetings, meetings, meetings. Watch the people who stop making meetings. They don't last. They don't last. A lousy hour and no dues or fees? Come on, what's your excuse? We sit in front of the idiot box three hours. I know I do. I watch Judge George. Judy, Dr. Phil, and all the three of them. And I can't get up and go to a meeting for an hour and say hello to someone? In May of 6-06, I had a write-up in the grapevine. They interviewed me over the telephone. And the young man asked me, what are the two things I'd like to see change in AA? I want to see the enthusiasm come back like these people here today. I want to give this committee one of the grandest applause for putting this on. You don't know. And just think, they worked for a couple of years to put this on. This is not an overnight thing. A lot of work goes in. And I'm not going to go into it. So we should appreciate it. And the next thing I told him, I personally never want to see anybody sit alone in AA. Don't do that. Please don't do that. Please don't do that. Always talk to one another. Love one another. Care for each other. My mom didn't like me in AA. Took my mom many, many years to get me to AA. Many, many, many, many, many, many years of my sobriety. For her, one day she said to me, stay with them A's, whatever they are. And for many years, I've been wanting to give my mom two drinks and bring her into AA. She could have used the whole 12 steps and tourism and everything. She really could. My mom died three days short of 95 when I was sober. I had a... My father committed suicide while I was sober. He hung himself. He laid by a railroad for 15 days, and the insects ate him, so we buried him in a clothes casket. I had a son who was an alcoholic and an addict. I used to say to him, Dennis, that's why I fell in love with this Dennis over here. I said, now I got another son when I got this Dennis. And... I used to say to him, the right road may be hard, but you'll be the winner. The easy road, the price is heavy. And I couldn't get him away from his crackhead friends. I didn't try too hard either, because AA teaches us that we can't help our own loved ones. It has to be someone on the outside. Because they don't really want to listen to you, you know. So he was shot and killed. On June 10th, he made 28 years old. June 25th, the fellow shot him between two houses. Right behind him, I had an alcoholic sister. My mother born, five alcoholics. All of us are alcoholics. And I met her on the corner of 200 and Hollis. Half-dressed, drunk. Get away from mom. Sometimes we have to get away from people to stay sober. And she left me and went into Manhattan. And if any of you have gone across the George Washington Bridge, there's an apartment building there. And she went up 30 floors and jumped 30 floors. She laid on the canopy for five days. And to look at her crushed body in the casket was hard. To look at my dead son was hard. My mom, Mr. Bailey, most all my family is gone. My oldest son, the very son that I told that I was going to take my life, has hated my living guts for 54 and a half years of my sobriety. And he let me know that he would never forgive me or forget me for my past. But I thank my God that my first five years was hard in AA. No pain, no gain. No fight, no victory. Because I suffered with deep depression, isolation. I cried a lot. And I saw my girlfriend today with the little 24-hour book. It's not conference approved, but it sure saved my life. It saved my life. Because after a meeting, I would go in that isolation and read that 24-hour book. Thank God. Thank God. And then one day it dawned on me, this is a gift. Not everybody gets this gift. And if you want to keep this gift, Liz, you better put one hand in God and keep the other one in AA. And I'm on a journey, not a destination. Because I don't plan to stop. Hear me? I don't plan to stop. No. No. I'm booked into next year already. And I've learned to live in the moment. Oh, honey. Get into the moment. Boy, does it feel good when you just take care of this moment. See? So there again, I keep going. Keep giving. I had a phone call about three years ago. Who am I speaking to? Your son. I said, which one? How many sons have you got? I said, oh, in AA, I got many a son. Dennis is my son. Dennis is my son. Dennis is my son. Dennis is my son. Dennis is my son. Dennis is my son. Dennis is my son. Everybody asks me when we're holding on his arm. That's your son? Yeah, he's my son. He tells me I'm married to him, though. Yeah, I'm calling on myself now with you. He said, oh, no, I married her on the ship. He ain't married me on no ship. Listen, don't listen to that. Don't listen to that. But I've been loving Dennis for a long time. And Dennis escorts me quite a bit at these conventions. I think he did the last convention. He escorted me. But he's a treasure to me. He's a treasure to me. So here again, I remember so clearly that I kept coming, keep coming. I have 23 grandchildren and some great-grands. I see them by appointment only. I do not babysit. I didn't start it and don't plan to either. I don't plan to either. And they go from 49 down to newborn. Thank you, baby. To newborn. I've gone up and had 10 operations in 60 years. I'm cut to pieces, drunk and sober. The doctor told me after three operations in six weeks, you have cancer. And I'm giving you six months to live. I said, you're not giving me anything. I'm in a fellowship that teaches me I live one day at a time. I'm now 45 years an arrested cancer patient. The doctor's dead. I'm not. I'm not. No, no, I don't claim no illness. Now, last year, I was made pioneer of AA. I went to Texas for a year and no 10, down in Texas. And I went back to Texas and then I went to New Mexico. I did three states in a year, in a month rather. And I broke down. My whole body broke down. I lost use of walking. I'm just learning how to walk again. And I'm determined I'm going to walk. You see? I have to watch walking in my apartment because I get off balance sometimes. You do more damage in your own apartment than you do anywhere else because I will watch the curve, you know. I'm still going. I've just been thrown out of two hospitals because I had too much company. I never heard of such a thing in my life. Too much company. I had to put some of you out. I had to tell you, will you please go home? They would bring the babies even. Don't bring the babies around these sick people. You know. But I keep going. I've opened up four groups, which are still going. I opened up a clubhouse in AA in New York. It's called the I Can Club. Because I didn't come into AA to drop dead. I love dancing. I'm going to be doing the jigging. I'll be dancing again soon. You know that, don't you? Yeah, I'm going to be dancing again soon. In that clubhouse, you dance every Friday night and Saturday night. Don't come in here to die, I'm telling you. Come in here to learn to live and travel if you can. It's wonderful. I just moved from the house because I couldn't do steps anymore, as you know. And I went down to this real estate. I said, I want a room and kitchenette. Oh, we're in renovation and we're not giving out any applications. I said, what's your name? She said, my name is Peggy. I said, Peggy, may I speak to you? She said, yeah. I said, Peggy, I'm only following my spirit. And I put my hands out like this. And I said, whatever comes of this is not up to me. Oh, I'm giving you an application. I was in the building within three weeks. Because you practice these principles in all your affairs. Not just in AA. All your affairs. They love me. My neighbors say to me, I want to be like you, Miss Fairley. They don't even know me. They watch me stand out there waiting for them white dudes to pick me up. I got one of them on the second floor just joined AA. Isn't that nice? I told her, when you see me hop a car, honey, you hop it with me. I've taken her to a couple of meetings. She loves it. This year, Jones Beach is my group. Sunrise Jones Beach in Nashua. I've been there now on the beach 20 years. Celebrating from 40 to 60. And this year I had over 1500 of you come out and celebrate with me, which is so beautiful. So I go home, kissed out, puckered out, then I pass out, you know. But it's such a good passing out. Because without you, again, it would be no me. And I'm going to try to keep my health up and keep going. But when I tell you I love you. And you are my family. Now I went to California to visit my son. I make him sign me up for two meetings a week. And I went to one meeting and the girl came back with me and she said, oh, your mother was a star today. And he gave her a dirty look. The other guy brought me home and he got out the car and he went and he hugged my son. He said, boy, your mother got a standing ovation today. And they don't do that here in California. He got a triple dirty look. So I had to tell you people in New York and all over, please don't tell my family you like me. Because you will get a dirty look. They don't want you to like me. But it's okay. I love you. And I allow nothing or anyone, I said it to Vi this morning, to interfere with my AA life. Because you give me life. I could be so down in the house sometimes. And I come out to an AA meeting and I see them young dudes, I come alive, honey. I come alive. And then my sponsees notice it. And I'm so happy you changed it to sponsees instead of pigeons. They used to call them pigeons. And you know what pigeons do to you. And I'm so glad they got rid of that. Yeah. And so again, I keep coming. I keep coming. And I'd like you to do the same thing. And love and care and help one another. Share with one another. You don't have to be a public speaker. No, you don't. I just joined a church not too long ago. And I was coming out of the church. And the good sister stopped me. Sister Bailey, are you going to be in church next Sunday? I said no. She said, no. She said, no. She said, no. She said, no. She's nosy now. I'm telling you this right now. I said, no. She said, why not? I said, well, I'm in Detroit. I have 1,500 women at a luncheon to speak to. So she said, well, what are you doing in Detroit? I said, I just told you. I'm speaking. What do you speak about? Nosy. I said, I talk about alcoholism. How come you do that? I said, because I'm an alcoholic. Well, do me a favor, she said, and do the congregation a favor. Don't come back into this church. Well, honey, let me tell you about Sister Bailey. Whoo! I went out of that church. That play last night blew my mind. You ought to know that I had all I could do was sit there in that seat without jumping up, screaming with my hands up in the air. They put on a show last night. It was a big one. It was a big night for me. I'm selfish. Whoo! It was gorgeous. Gorgeous. But I ran out of that church that day with my hands up. Thank you, God, for AA, who don't care who I am, what I've done, where I've been, where I live, what I wear. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. I'm glad you're here. I'm glad you're here. I'm glad you're here. I'm glad you're here. I'm glad you're here. You're out into the world, you're out in the world. And I am telling you, and today, I don't have to lie. I went to shake the pastor's hand one day, don't shake my hand, he said, shake God's hand. I said, don't you know God worked through you to me? Oh! Oh he said. The next three weeks I couldn't get rid of him. He was all over me! The pastor! But I had to stop going to the church. She didn't want me to do this to my hair. She didn't want me to do that to my hair. didn't like that I made the sign of the cross. I've been making the sign of the cross since I'm eight years old. I'm 90 years old now. She's going to stop me. Come on. And then someone else says, oh, she didn't like that I said I was an alcoholic. I don't have to lie today to anybody about anything. I'm happy, joyous, and free. They sang that last night, didn't they? Whoo, and they're so right. Happy, joyous, and free. You want freedom? Come to AA. And I hope the judges will stop sending everybody to AA. They're watering it down like that because they don't care who you are. Judge Judy and all of them, go to AA. Go to AA. They know how powerful this fellowship is. They see it working. And it has worked. And it does work. But you've got to work it. It's not going to come to you sitting where you're sitting. You've got to get up and move the motor. AA gas is good, I'm telling you. I'm telling you. Do it. And give it a way to keep it. Give it a way to keep it. I hope I haven't left anybody out. Jim and Daryl, thank you. I called you this morning, but that's all right. You're here with me. That means a lot. Now, I used to go to lunch every Wednesday with Jim. And when I didn't go with him, his wife would make the lunch. And we did this for many years. They moved here, and I missed them. I miss them. So I try to call. Most of my friends from New York, raise your hand here because we're going to have a rahalo samara Box. The Emotion Start Your Life With Me I said, Michael, if I don't love me, I can't love you. If I don't go get it for me, I can't give it to you. He said, oh, oh, oh. Michael calls me three times a week. Okay? Because he got the message. Now, I don't really kiss you on one side of the face. I kiss you on two sides of your face. Because halfway measures avail me nothing. I want all of you. I want all of you. I want you to remember that I love you. This is the day that the Lord has made. And he's allowed me to live this long to be with you again. And I hope I will be with you again. Thank you, Tom and your missus, for your love and care that we had dinner, a little lunch maybe yesterday. And I've been eating. And my friend here, Terry, says, Liz, you sure can eat. I don't drink, so I better eat. I do better eating. I love to eat. What kind of food do you want? Anything that's not nailed down or walking. Let's go. Let's go. And it's good. I'm going to close now. Because I've enjoyed my stay here. I thank you all for being in my life. Again, without you, there would be no me. And I know that. I tried to do it on my own before AA, and I never worked. But AA worked. It works if you work it. The young people's group last night that I went to, I got the biggest thrill being with you to see the young people come in today. They're the next legacy here. And I'd love to see them keep the doors open in AA and to find their lives. What a life. What a life you're going to have. It's so beautiful. Start appreciating little things. Don't take everything for granted. And if you're going home Sunday like we're leaving Sunday, go safely. Thank you again, Vi, Dennis, Terry, Mary, and Tom. Thank you guys. Because I've been eating with them, you know. And I'm planning to eat some more with them. Thank all of you for sharing up here too, very nicely. And my chairlady, wonderful. And please have a blessed day. Have a wonderful day. Thank you. Thank you. That was beautiful. Oh, that was lovely.