Cathy C. tells us of her adventures in alcoholism and the steps that led to her getting sober in Alcoholics Anonymous.

 

She begins her story with an unpredictable time growing up in Providence, RI with a good and decent family, that drank too much. Tragically, her father passed away, from what she suspected to be related to his own alcoholism, when she was two. She went to an all-girls catholic high school, when she discovered she could drink a lot more than the other girls could. To get away from home in 1961, she decided to join the convent, but when returning home on vacation, she also returned to drinking, and immediately started blacking out.

 

Although she never drank every day, she had the built-in question of “when can I drink?” She knew that she drank a lot, but not as much as her family. A series of geographic changes seemed to be effective, until they didn’t anymore. Time and time again her drinking problem should have become apparent, but Cathy didn’t see it.

 

After contemplating suicide, she hears a message from god, telling her to call an alcoholic priest. In a discussion with the priest on August 23, 1979, she finally admitted that she was scared that she might be an alcoholic. She had to admit that she was powerless over alcohol, and her life had become unmanageable, that day. Soon thereafter, she goes to her first meeting where she has learned to “Face the Facts.”