Welcome to my
Alcoholics Anonymous Page
My name is George S and I am an Alcoholic
Your listening to 12 Step Radio
This is my story:
What it was like...
I come from a
somewhat large family, 2 sisters and 1 brother, me being the
youngest, I started drinking at age 12, and when I did I started
to feel like I could take on the
world, liquid courage as I learned to call it in AA. When I
started I was drinking to
escape, as time went by I drank for effect, and then I just drank
to drink and get so
drunk I did not care.
About this time in my life my first of many people who would
enable me would come
into play, he was a cousin on my mothers side of the family, he
had just came home
from Vietnam and was walking home when he saw the kids on my
street beating me
to a bloody mess.
He tossed them off me helped me to his place where he helped me
get the blood off
me & we sat there talking. The next day he was fixing a car
in his garage, when I
came over he asked if I wanted to learn how to do auto repairs
the back yard, I
said yes.
As we worked he took out some beers, passed one to me and said go
for it...
This is when my drinking started and took off, we would be
drinking while fixing cars,
then we would go to the bars and of course I had yet another
cousin that owned a bar
and she let me drink there as long as I did not make too much
fuss.
As the time went on my drinking progressed and my attitudes got
worse, my Fathers
constant telling me "Your no good, you will never amount to anything, your
stupid" got to me more
and more. As I got older things got bad for me, and I took to
more and more drinking.
This went on for awhile and then I got jobs, never drank on the
job except one time
when I worked for a Deli, one of the employees told the Boss and
well he said if I
wanted to drink I would have to do so where he could keep a watch
on me and so I did.
After that job I went to work for a bus company, then the VA
Hospital, Jamesway and
then for many Security Guard companies...
What happened...
By the 1990's my drinking was so bad I went to a funeral of a
fellow Fireman (I need to
say I joined the Fire Dept. at age 18) and when I finished the funeral, I
went to the fire house to
do what I do best, get stinking drunk along with other Firemen... So I sat there
drinking beer, not one at time but 2 at a time and they were 12 ounce cups I was
having...
By this time
I had a car , I never drove when drunk, but I did
this day. I drove to the
home of a long time friend where I went to talk, how I drove without hitting a
parked car, a telephone poll or someone was the work of my HP (though at the
time I did not know that) well the talk
turned into an argument,
and I then started to choke him in a drunken rage, but my HP gave
me a moment of
clarity, that moment was when I saw what I was doing, got scared, sat down on
his couch crying and shaking because at that point I thought I killed him
because I really did not notice him moving around the place, I could not look at
him, so when his aid
came to the house I ran off thinking I killed him...
(Found out later on he was
ok...)
I took to the roof of his building, walked around it and truth be
told I was thinking of
jumping because I thought I killed my friend. But Building
Security came up chased
me around the roof and then tackled me in the exit way of the
door to the stairs. It was while all this was going on my friend was asked
by the Police did he want to press charges, he said no that is not going to help
him.
I was taken to the Hospital by the Police Dept, where a Police Officer who was
built like a tank stood watch
over me, now I need to say that I was not
under arrest. But in my state of mind at that time I thought for sure I was.
When the Crisis Team came I told
them what I figured
they wanted to hear I would have told them anything to get them to leave, but
after about an hour they left.
By around 2am my brother showed up and what I thought was his idea (turned out later to be
my friends idea) he said "George, don't you think its time you got help
and
go to A. A. and get some help?"
So after that I went home, and the very next day I asked my
Sister-in-Law to take me
to a meeting (she had 3 years sober at that time & has been ever since).
What it
is like now...
I went to my first meeting at a group called Step by Step in Shrub Oak, NY and it was
at a beginners meeting I said, "My name
is George and I'm an
Alcoholic?" Since I was not sure what alcoholism was or anything like
that I said it like a
question... And the chairperson said "Your in the right place..."
And I sat there listening to everyone around me, and after the meeting, this guy
who would be my first Sponsor walked up to me and introduced himself, gave me
his number and told me he was my Sponsor and that I was to call him everyday at
a certain time, go with the group on out goings, make group meetings. Do 90
meetings in 90 days. Well I did that but with another group that was closer to
home, got another Sponsor who took me threw the steps. And that is what I did, I knew I had a problem after that
first meeting, and knew I had to do anything to stay stopped and this was it,
but it was only the beginning...
From that day on and for the last 12 plus years I have been in
and working the program
of Alcoholics Anonymous, and I have had a wild ride, now I need to say that yes
there have been some ruff moments but with the help of the people in AA, my
Sponsor (of which I have had a few) I got through it all, and if you are
new to AA or just
coming back, just keep coming, it does work...
Of the many gifts I received in recovery, one is a life long dream to be in the Military, in early 2001 I joined the New York State Defense Force (a Militia component of the State of New York) where thanks to sobriety I have become a Soldier and it is a gift I am grateful for. Many other gifts came such as the respect of my family, which I could not have were I still active, I am the live in care giver to my mother which is a blessing (and at times a hard road, but AA helps me to handle it). There is far more but I have said the basics of my story, in the hopes that you get the idea as to just how this program truly does work for those who want to get sober and stay sober.
And for more information
about AA in Dutchess County, NY (and other areas the following site covers) click on this AA symbol and check
out the info there...
If you have a family member or are friends with someone who's drinking effected you or them in anyway
click here to log on to the Al-Anon/Al-ATEEN website
If you wish to contact me just click here... regarding AA or problems with this page...
Page was revised on: December 02, 2009 15:06:04 -0500