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Marianna’s story that will resonate instantly with those of us who’ve been raised in families in which frequent moves disrupted the process of simply growing up. In Marianna’s case, her family moved numerous times around the United States and Europe when she was young. Her gregarious façade, aided by early and regular use of alcohol, hid her true feelings of loneliness and isolation. Her innate talents as an artist, writer, model, and actress allowed her to achieve moderate success in her late teens and early twenties. But heavy drinking, accompanied by escalating drug use, put a serious drag on Marianna’s accomplishments and she found herself seeking a geographic fix by moving to London. Not surprisingly, the disease had relocated with her and she soon found herself languishing in self-pity, hopeless demoralization, and the inability to stop drinking. By the time she was 25, her alcoholism kept her mostly homeless with very little left to lose. Like many who are thorough beaten by alcohol, Marianna entered AA as her lone option for survival.
Since that day in 1991, Marianna has embraced sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous and has worked the Program in all aspects of her life. She met and married a fellow recovering alcoholic and, together, they raised a daughter using the good orderly direction they gained in AA as the foundation of their parenting abilities. And though the gifts of sobriety materialized in the form of good tidings, those same gifts have helped pull her through devasting life events, including her battle with breast cancer. And while she readily admits intervals of infrequent meeting attendance, she’s never strayed too far from the Program. In fact, recent years of Zoom meetings have ramped up her participation in AA to a maximum level of spiritual confidence and service to others.
I believe you find many aspects of Marianna’s story with which you can readily identify. Her story is instructive, encouraging, and quite entertaining. So please enjoy this episode of AA Recovery Interviews with my with my splendid friend and AA sister, Marianna L.
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.]