“Well, I Bet You Were in the Moment” — My Sponsor After I Was Chased by Rottweilers – Don L.

About This Speaker Tape

Don L. shares his story at the Mystic Knights of Sobriety beef dinner in Edmonton, opening with warm humor about the group's obsession with their beef and the best group name he's ever heard. He traces his alcoholism from a first drunk at 17 on Old English 800 in the Hollywood Hills — where he tumbled down a hillside into a scrub oak and discovered alcohol's gift of painlessness — through years of progressive decline. He describes the six-year gap between gaining self-knowledge at 25 and finally reaching AA at 31, during which every attempt to quit on willpower alone ended in worse relapses.

By the end of his drinking, Don was living off his sister in Simi Valley, doing "light switch drinking" to black out and escape the four horsemen that greeted him every morning. He stole from her purse and his niece's Girl Scout cookie money. A police encounter with a canine unit dog — whose career accomplishments vastly exceeded his own — became the unlikely catalyst that pushed him toward AA. He entered not to get sober but to avoid homelessness, playing the recovery card with zero sincerity.

Don's recovery story centers on his assigned sponsor Mark, a quiet spiritual zealot who dragged him through the steps immediately, refused to let him work in his old industry, marched him to court to clear warrants, and told him plainly that alcoholism was his only real problem. Don describes nearly quitting AA at six months — until two Rottweilers chased him down a hill at 4:30 AM, and his sponsor's response was simply, "Well, I bet you were in the moment." He shares the story of sponsoring Donnie, an illiterate newcomer he taught to read using the Big Book and a dictionary, discovering that service gave him the purpose he desperately needed.

The talk builds to a passionate call for active engagement in AA — not just carrying the message outside the rooms but watching over each other inside them. Don names three dead men still in his phone contacts who were doing the work but stopped, and challenges the room to become spiritual tethers rather than spectators. He closes by honoring the men serving beef and coffee at the event, calling the journey from taker to giver the real work of recovery.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Opens with thanks to hosts, jokes about Rick's six reminders about the beef, praises Mystic Knights of Sobriety group name
• 4:00 Shares sobriety date of 9-16-91, home group SOS Men's Group in Bellingham, importance of sponsor, home group, and sobriety date
• 8:00 Describes self-knowledge versus alcoholism — the terror of going stark raving mad sober after quitting drinking on willpower alone
• 14:00 First drunk at 17 on Old English 800 in the Hollywood Hills — tumbles down a 45-degree hillside into a scrub oak and discovers painlessness
• 22:00 Progressive decline: justification and rationalization as his two best friends, the alcoholic declaration that everybody does these things
• 28:00 End-stage drinking at sister's house — light switch oblivion drinking, the four horsemen on the end of the bed, stealing Girl Scout money
• 34:00 Police canine unit encounter — the dog who accomplished more than Don, his unlikely entrance into AA to avoid homelessness
• 40:00 Assigned sponsor Mark — spiritual zealot who went to 14 meetings a week, forced immediate step work, marched Don to court to clear warrants
• 48:00 Nearly quits AA at six months — two Rottweilers chase him down the hill at 4:30 AM, sponsor says 'I bet you were in the moment'
• 53:00 Sponsoring Donnie — teaching an illiterate man to read from the Big Book with a dictionary, mutual lifesaving through service
• 58:00 Three dead men still in his phone — passionate call to be spiritual tethers, carry the message inside the rooms, the journey from taker to giver