Sober since 1/1/1988, Rea was born in Arkansas where the only virgins are those who can outrun their brothers. Though kidding, she had an uncle and two cousins she had some problems with growing up. She frankly would have done anything to feel loved. Her family traveled with the carnival most of the year and came back to Arkansas in the winter. In the 5th grade they threw her into a Catholic school run by Benedictine nuns who lived a sheltered life. They gave her the first real love she ever experienced. This was diametrically opposed to the carnival life. She does not remember the first time she drank but does recall that at 16 her social drinking career lasted for about 15 minutes. She started getting married at an early age - every one was an alcoholic. But she was fine. It was the rest of the world. After her second child she knew there was something wrong but alcoholism never occurred to her. Every time she got in trouble her solution was to get married. She got a tiger by the tail - he was violent and she was afraid to leave him. She came into AA trying to get yet another husband sober. The world became a very odd place when she stopped drinking and usingin Dumas, AR. She went to school for her GED and then a college degree. Education became her solution. She did not have a sponsor or work the steps. In December 1987, New Years Eve she drank without thinking about it and realized fully the next day she was alcoholic. She met a man at a roundup who got her involved in the Big Book. She got active and began to realize the repetitive patterns of her life. She explains what she did from there to get and stay sober.
(48 min) (16.7 MB) (id#276)
