Sober 42 years since 11/13/1974, Joanne did not have a long drinking career - she went down fast.
She started drinking socially in college. By the time her children were 3 and 8 years old she could answer yes to 18 of the 20 Johns Hopkins alcoholic Test for Alcoholism indicating end stage alcoholism.
She had shame for so many blackouts while taking care of her children. One of her ex-husband's friends told her blackouts were normal.
She started taking pills to remove the effects of hangovers. She did not use illegal drugs because she saw herself as an upstanding member of the St. Louis, MO community as a teacher.
The day of her last drink was also the date of her third suicide attempt.
Her first years in AA things did not get better because it was still all about her. It took three to five years to get beyond that.
She divorced her abusive husband early in sobriety and had to learn how to live like an adult.
She went through stage three breast cancer in sobriety.
"You know it's hard to kill a drunk!"
(33 min) (7.6 MB) (id#1645)