Sober 12 years since 8/23/2004, Juli is speaking at this event with two mentors: Jerry and Jeannette (AFG) B from Acworth.
She was born in Indiana to teetotalling parents. She was always driven by fear, acted out to cover it up and always got caught.
The family moved frequently. Her accent is very flexible as a result. They settled in Paulding County - rural northeast Georgia. Juli decided to be "the meanest damn Yankee you ever saw" so she would not be hurt.
She had her first drink at age 13 - vodka and strawberry Nehi at 6:00 am at the bus stop. The police were called and she was suspended for 10 days. Auspicious start - heh?
Pregnant at 14 years old, she ran away and got married. It would be the perfect life. After giving birth to her son, she was told she would never have kids again. She liked that - no more consequences for that kind of bad behavior. Her husband left before the baby was born.
Married again at 18. Then later to an older man with a car and a job. She was surprised at age 24 to find she was pregnant and had a second boy.
Drinking and using was so out of control, Charter Peachford would not take her.
She had lived in 40 places in 10 years. Married four times. Couple trips to jails and hospitals.
"And when it got really, really bad I decided that I had a problem and there was no help for me.And so I walked away; I walked away from everything. I called my youngest son's father and ask him to please take him, called my mother and asked her to please take my oldest son, they did and I walked away from everything. And I went and lived on the streets of Atlanta and I spent all day, every day, feeding my disease."
But things got worse before they got better.
How they got better in AA is powerful and full of hope.
Thank you Juli for your courage to share this journey out of darkness.
(46 min) (8 MB) (id#1866)