Friend of Bill W.

Posting from AA Big Book, 4th Edition, Personal Stories: “The Perpetual Quest,” p 388-397 This lawyer tried psychiatrists, biofeedback, relaxation exercises, and a host of other techniques to control her drinking. She finally found a solution, uniquely tailored, in the 12 Steps

I have been to too many premature funerals due to our good friend alcohol. My husband and I met and married in law school in a romantic haze of alcohol, twinkling lights, and much promise. We stood out as the only young married couple in our class. #recovery #sobriety #odaat #aa

The professor's kidneys gave out from one too many martinis; the exporting lawyer kept drinking until he died, despite a liver transplant; my ex-husband died in a fire on what was to be, he had said, his last drunk before going to A.A. again, when I was ten years sober. #sobriety

And I somehow unwittingly and even while drinking, turned into a corporate counsel and later, thankfully, became a member of Alcoholics Anonymous. #recovery #sobriety #alcohol #alcoholic #12Steps #BigBook #odaat #aa

Within a dozen years, three of these five promising lawyers were dead from alcoholism, struck down at the peak of their careers. The judge is still and always has been a sober judge. #recovery #sobriety #alcohol #alcoholic #12Steps #BigBook #odaat #aa

There was also a giant good-hearted bear of a man, who today is a judge, who spent more time listening and helping others than he did practicing criminal law. Into this office landed a pair of know-it-all, fast-acting, but not too experienced young lawyers: my husband and me. #aa

Why would he leave such an ideal, wine-drenched job in sunny climes to slog away at law school? I kept wondering. #recovery #sobriety #alcohol #alcoholic #12Steps #BigBook #odaat #aa

Then there was the new but world-weary litigation lawyer who told endless tales of his former life of white wine and bouillabaisse under the Mediterranean sun as he conducted his exporting business on the Riviera. #recovery #sobriety #alcohol #alcoholic #12Steps #BigBook #odaat

My favorite lawyer was the eccentric, disheveled, wild-eyed Irish law professor who was brilliant or crazy, depending on your point of view, constantly cleaning out his pipe bowl with a black fingernail and tossing back vodka martinis whenever he got the chance. #sobriety

When I was a newly minted lawyer starting out in the practice of criminal law, there were five of us in our law office. #recovery #sobriety #alcohol #alcoholic #12Steps #BigBook #odaat #aa

* End of Chapter - ‘Me An Alcoholic?’ *

My work is on a much deeper and more significant level than it ever was before, and I am today a fairly creative, relatively sane human being. And should I have more bad times, I know that I'll never again have to go through them alone. #recovery #sobriety #alcohol #alcoholic #aa

There have been some wonderful things too. My new wife and I don't own any property to speak of, and the flashy successes of another day are no longer mine. But we have a baby who, if you'll pardon a little post-alcoholic sentimentality, is right out of heaven. #sobriety #aa

One night my son, when he was only sixteen, was suddenly and tragically killed. The Higher Power was on deck to see me through, sober. I think He's on hand to see my son through too. #recovery #sobriety #alcohol #alcoholic #12Steps #BigBook #odaat #aa

The most terrible blow of my life befell me after I'd found sobriety through A.A. Perhaps the single flicker of decency that shone through the fog of my drinking days was a clumsy affection for my two children, a boy and a girl. #recovery #sobriety #alcohol #alcoholic #odaat #aa

As might have been predicted, my teetering tower of worldly success collapsed. My alcoholic associates fired me, took control, and ran the enterprise into bankruptcy. My alcoholic wife took up with someone else, divorced me, and took with her all my remaining property. #sobriety

My story has a happy ending but not of the conventional kind. I had a lot more hell to go through. But what a difference there is between going through hell without a Power greater than one's self, and with it! #recovery #sobriety #alcohol #alcoholic #12Steps #BigBook #odaat #aa

What is this power? With my A.A. friends, all can say is that it's a Power greater than myself. If pressed, all I can do is follow the psalmist who said it long before me: "Be still, and know that I am God." #recovery #sobriety #alcohol #alcoholic #12Steps #BigBook #odaat #aa

Moreover, I am deeply convinced that so long as I continue to strive, in my bumbling way, toward the principles I first encountered in the earlier chapters of this book, this remarkable power will continue to flow through me. #recovery #sobriety #alcohol #alcoholic #odaat #aa

That was seven years ago - and many A.A. meetings ago - and I haven't had a drink during those seven years. #recovery #sobriety #alcohol #alcoholic #12Steps #BigBook #odaat #aa