Sober 15 years since 7/4/1986, Patty came in at age 26 and is still very involved in AA. Step and Big Book studies are a large part of her sobriety. One of six children, she was born in Pennsylvania but grew up in Maryland. She had a very sick mother and her parents were divorced when she was 10. Her respect for her mother has grown in her sobriety.
Patty went through life not wanting attention and not rocking the boat. She got good grades as long as she didn't have to speak. Though neither parent drank alcoholically, around 12 years old she decided she want to get drunk - not just drink. She loved it - she felt a part of. Weekend drinking began.
Still doing good at school, she got pregnant at age 16 and had a son with a boy she liked - a drug dealer and high school drop-out. They stayed together a year. She left that lifestyle. Her drinking increased. She got a job bartending in East Baltimore. She had arrived. For the next six years she worked, drank and slept paying very little attention to her son.
A friend called her family and told them she needed help. It was hard for them to understand alcoholism - they thought it was drugs. They took her to drug counseling and gave her wine with dinner every night. She refused to go to meetings, did not get better and went back out.
A year later for three months she was jobless, living with her son, unemployable, living in an apartment with no gas or water and drinking every day. She neglected her son, knew it and drank to cover up the pain. She even dated guys she met in jail and saw nothing wrong with her life.
Her sister intervened and gave her one last chance in May of 1986. She broke all the rules. One morning she overdosed, her sister took her to detox and Patty's journey in recovery began. She surrendered in treatment.
