In Al-Anon 34 years since 2/13/1979, Barbara said no twice when asked to speak at this event. She speaks occasionaly out of town but rarely if ever in Atlanta. She prefers one on one.
She says,
"The Atlanta Roundup has not always been Al-Anon friendly but it is Al-Anon friendly today."
Barbara grew up in the disease of alcoholism though her dad never admitted it.
"I am of the theory that when it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck."
Alcoholism killed him. He was mentally and physically abusive. Growing up in that kind of home, one either marries an abuser or becomes one.
"I stand before you a reformed husband beater. I have been kicked out of more bars never having had a drink for attacking my husband."
She divorced him because he was a womanizer, not so much because he was alcoholic and a gambler.
She wanted nothing to do with marriage and focused her attention on married men because they were save.
Then she met a sober member of AA who would not sleep with her unless they were married. She married him but was not sure she loved him. She became an "AA wife", jealous of alcoholic women, until she was almost tricked by a woman into coming into Al-Anon.
The great turning point happened when she asked her to be her sponsor.
(1 hr 5 min) (22.3 MB) (id#1275)
