Sober 29 years since 6/1/1988, this is the first time she has ever told her story.
Linda, her friend of 40 years who introduced her, came into AA first.
From a New York Irish family, alcohol was a part of Maria's family culture - as was yelling. Her dad taught her how to fight.
He drank openly - her mother would drink vodka after she thought everyone was in bed. Her older brother had his own problems she was forced to deal with. He later committed suicide.
Maria had a classic Roman nose. A jilted lover tried to kill her by running her over with his car. She jumped off a cliff to avoid him and smashed her nose. The required surgery made her more attractive to men. She quit high school and married the first one that paid attention to her.
He wanted an "open marriage" she did not. She got her GED and a half-way decent job in New York. The drinking escalated.
Somewhere along the line she met her drinking buddy Linda then lost track of her.
Her second husband bought her alcohol and Quaaludes. That marriage ended in a fist fight.
She got to the point where she did not care anymore.
Then she ran into Linda - now sober. She promised not to drink or use in front of Linda. She looked for Mr. Right, came some to AA and drank.
Her parents died. She wanted sobriety but was not willing to do the work.
She met her current non-alcoholic husband of 35 years. She found religion and an AA meeting there.
She started eating too much and was angry. She just did not believe she was alcoholic and tried controlled drinking. It just didn't work.
She did deep psychological treatment and got help for a chemical imbalance.
She stopped going to AA until she advised a woman to go and went with her.
The friend stopped coming but Maria kept coming back and it stuck.
"I realized that God never left me. He saved me many times....Life is the Gift and I've got the best gift of all and that gift is love."
