Sober 28 years since 1/1/1973, funny and well spoken, Jerry says,
"You know what an obsession is? It's a great, big thought. So big it pushes all the other thoughts out of your head and it says, for me, 'A drink would improve this situation. I don't care what the situation is, a drink would improve it'."
Born and raised during WWII on a little farm in west Texas, he tells a great alcoholic anecdote about his dog Patches and the neighbors bull hog.
Jerry started drinking when he went to college. He met his wife there. He was not a serious student. He went into the Navy then law school and became a lawyer. Then he started having problems - drinking a quart of liquor a day. He sent his wife to a psychiatrist because she was having problems with his behavior.
He started drinking at home - it was his right. The family started getting sick, too.
Then his wife started going to and talking about Al-anon. Jerry thought it was an aluminum appliance of some kind. AA literature began showing up in the house. She made his drinking public. He tried to force her to stop going to Al-Anon.
He was put in the hospital with bleeding ulcers. He switched to vodka and Malox.
He tried and failed to take her test of controlled drinking for a year and a half. He began to wonder,
"What's wrong with me?"
On New Year's Eve of 1972 he became sick of it.
The next day he decided for the first time to try to quit drinking - on his own. He refused to read the Big Book.
"The wheels came off."
He lasted two days and grabbed the 24 Hour a Day Book. It said for that day he needed to turn it over to God.
He asked God to take this obsession away from him. The next morning he called AA.
(1 hr 11 min) (24.7 MB) (id#1613)
