April T. – Sober 3 Years

April’s road trip of terror began during a drunken 4-hour drive on a major interstate. Halfway into the trip, while drinking vodka from a plastic bottle, she crossed the median at over ninety miles an hour. She crashed head-on into a car of three people, ejecting the driver. Injured and barely coherent, with a blood alcohol level four times the legal limit, April over-heard the EMT’s radio that the driver was dead at the scene. With death and destruction surrounding her, April’s first thought was an alcoholic one: “How can I get out of this?” Even though she’d been in AA years earlier and had also been in treatment, her disease made her amnesic to the right thoughts about what to do. Thus began April’s odyssey on the road of dire emotional, legal, financial, and psychological consequences of her drunken behavior. The tragic crash became the bottom from which April’s sobriety finally emerged. And it was in prison that she found a spiritual awakening by working the AA program and being of service to other alcoholic women. She set up meetings and put full effort into every measure of sober living one can hope for while incarcerated. By the time she was paroled, April was truly a changed women thanks to AA. Today, as an active member of the Program, she can be seen in meetings all over, sharing first-hand the agony of a story that, thank God, we can all benefit from without having to experience it. In many ways, , April's story is the kind of nightmare that can only be described as the one that recovering alcoholics refer to when we say, “There but for the grace of God, go I”. Attitudes about drunk driving vary, even among recovering alcoholics. Those of us whose stories include drunk driving often express gratitude to God for having escaped potentially grievous and deadly outcomes of our drinking.  Many non-alcoholics would just as soon want someone like April locked up for good. But those of us recovering from alcoholism understand the true nature of this disease and how it wrecks lives. We also understand how sharing that experience can save lives.  Personally, while I’m somewhat vexed and saddened by April’s story, I am incredibly grateful that she has been sober since that fateful day. Knowing that she is sober and sharing her experience, strength, and hope with others, both inside and outside AA, gladdens my heartfelt outlook for the potential for healing from alcoholism one day at a time. So please enjoy the next hour and ten minutes of AA Recovery Interviews as you listen to the inspiring words of my friend and AA sister, April T. Check out Howard’s Big Book Podcast, the complete unabridged audio version of the First and Second Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. The Big Book Podcast is an engaging cover-to-cover, word-for-word reading of all 11 chapters and Personal Stories, many of which were left out of the Third and Fourth Editions. Follow us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Or listen on https://bigbookpodcast.com If you’ve enjoyed my AA Recovery Interviews series and my Big Book podcast, have a listen to Lost Stories of the Big Book, 30 Original Stories Missing from the 3rd and 4th Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. It’s an engaging audiobook I narrated to bring these stories to life for AA members who’ve never seen them. These timeless testamonials were originally cut to make room for newer stories in the 3rd and 4th Editions. But their vitally important messages of hope are as meaningful today as when they were first published. Many listeners will hear these stories for the first time. Lost Stories of the Big Book is available on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes. It’s also available as a Kindle book if you’d like to read along with the audio. [Disclaimer: AA Recovery Interviews podcast strictly adheres to AA’s 12 Traditions and all General Service Office guidelines for safe-guarding anonymity on-line. I pay all podcast production costs and no one receives financial gain from the show. AA Recovery Interviews and my guests do not speak for or represent AA at-large. This podcast is simply my way of giving back to AA that which has been so freely given to me. -Howard L.]