Thanks for letting us be part of your recovery and for being part of ours! Head over to aagrapevine.org/podcast for the brand new AA Grapevine Half-Hour Variety Hour podcast. Don and Sam will be hosting this weekly 30-minute podcast starting 04

Owl 109 Susan

Sep 1st, 2021 53m 22s

Susan started drinking at 13. The last 8 years of her drinking were daily drinking. She started trying to get sober in 1986. She called all the alcohol help numbers in the phone book, spoke with a woman for a while, and felt hope. Keeping her d

Owl 108 Kip

Aug 15th, 2021 50m 23s

Kip was introduced to AA in prison in 1989. He was in and out five times. He had lost all power of choice to drink or not. "If God and church can't fix me, surely Alcoholics Anonymous can't do it." Kip got married and divorced in sobriety and

Owl 107 Buddy

Aug 1st, 2021 49m 8s

First, a special announcement about the AA Grapevine Podcast! Also, we *finally* realized fans of the show are... OWLCOHOLICS!Welcome to the Boiled Tao! Buddy, a return guest, talks about some of the rough times at the end of his drinking. He

Owl 106 Caroline

Jul 15th, 2021 52m 56s

Caroline stopped drinking for 18 months with a program. She went to AA meetings out of town and picked up a 1-year chip at her first meeting. Heads turned. She was miserable - getting divorced, she had thoughts of suicide and called someone in

Owl 105 Perry

Jul 1st, 2021 45m 9s

Perry didn't lose his wife, his home, or his job, but he was spiritually bankrupt - a shell of a person. All the things he'd accomplished seemed worthless now. "Drinking overshadowed everything good about me." His good career in the United Stat

Claudette

Jun 15th, 2021 59m 8s

Claudette moved to Tacoma, WA, 6 years ago, with 30 years of sobriety. She found it difficult connecting with AA there because it was different. Work with another alcoholic helped her remember what it was like. Claudette became afraid of her be

Owl 104 Claudette

Jun 15th, 2021 59m 8s

Owl 103 Steven

Jun 1st, 2021 56m 4s

Steven was introduced to AA at age 13. He was forced to go into an all-boys recovery facility. The "Living Sober" book was good for him - easy to digest and identify with. He experienced old-school AA in Carson, NV. He identified with an LGBT s

Owl 102 Katherine

May 15th, 2021 1h 3m

Katherine called herself an alcoholic as a joke for years before coming to AA. She tried controlled drinking and also moved out of state away from family so she could drink how she wanted. Katherine has a fantastic first-meeting story! Principl

Owl 101 Sherman

May 1st, 2021 57m 49s

Sherman has a sereneness and calmness in his life. He grew up in an alcoholic home. The chaos was bad. He started drinking and liked the chaos. He got sober and saw the chaos as wreckage. When he was a kid, he went to AA with his dad. The speak

Owl 100 Michael

Apr 15th, 2021 55m 50s

OUR 100TH EPISODE! Thanks for joining us!Two months after turning 21, Michael was told he was an alcoholic after starting a fire at university. He took alcoholism classes in his early 30s. Michael also used cocaine to drink more. He drank in

Owl 099 Julie

Apr 1st, 2021 1h 5m

Julie's cat told her she was alcoholic. As a child, she went to her father's sobriety anniversary celebration and there was CAKE! As an adult, she went to an AA meeting on the recommendation of a counselor. It was an anniversary celebration mee

Owl 098 Jen

Mar 15th, 2021 1h

Jen didn't like the taste of alcohol and drank it for the effect. She knew her father was an alcoholic, so was scared of it and wouldn't try it. Then she did and went downhill quickly. At 10 years sober, she was prescribed Xanax and took it fin

Owl 097 Brian

Mar 1st, 2021 59m 8s

Brian lost the desire to drink when he cried out for help. He still smoked marijuana but came to feel conflicted about smoking it - it felt dishonest. He got a case of beer for Christmas AND a Big Book. He drank and read. Brian recently launche

Owl 096 Jerri

Feb 15th, 2021 52m 24s

Jerri was in denial about being an alcoholic. She'd gone through cancer and was trying to force things to be like they used to be. A nurse, she knew how to dose, but almost overdosed drinking and taking pills to cope. She went to a meeting wher

Owl 095 Pat

Feb 1st, 2021 52m 56s

Pat's life was chaos. He tried controlled drinking at a psychiatrist's recommendation. He binge-drank on weekends. Pat was in AA for 3 years before he worked the steps and didn't feel a part of AA until he did them.Pat's sobriety date is 28JU

Owl 094 Shana

Jan 15th, 2021 59m 22s

Shana was Sam's "AA wife - assembly required" in NC. She has a few sobriety dates and once was on the "marijuana maintenance plan" for a couple of years. She fought being an alcoholic and was mad that drinking didn't work. Shana went to a round

Owl 093 Josh

Jan 1st, 2021 1h 14m

Josh was calling his boss from jail - again - can't come to work. The beginning of the end of a spiritual crisis. The seed of AA was planted by a therapist. Years later, he decided to go. Josh made his own poker chip system.Josh's sobriety da

Owl 092 Liz

Dec 15th, 2020 1h 2m

Liz went to her first meeting (an open one) for someone else and heard her own stories. To Liz's thinking, binge-drinking was now the same as being alcoholic. She stopped 5 years once. Liz's home group didn't go online when COVID hit, so she st

My Name is Ebenezer S. Special (Encore Repost)

Dec 7th, 2020 58m 29s

It's 2020 and that alone is plenty of reason to publish another special. Here's an encore presentation of our 2019 production of "My Name is Ebenezer S."We wish you all a sober, safe and healthy holiday season! The owl just made some weird ho

Owl 091 Andrew

Dec 1st, 2020 48m 49s

Andrew had multiple relapses before recovery. Crystal meth led him to Crystal Meth Anonymous and then Alcoholics Anonymous. A doctor told him, "you always have an excuse." Andrew thought the future seemed so bleak without substances.Andrew's

Hyperbolic Holiday Hoo-Hah Special

Nov 24th, 2020 32m 31s

Here's our 2020 take on the "OMG It's Here Again Holiday Special" of old. We bring back Brad and Miranda for a festive chat on how to stay sober and sane during the holidays, particularly in the midst of a pandemic. All our best to you in this

Owl 090 Katy

Nov 15th, 2020 1h 16m

"Night of the Living Dead" was me at the end of my drinking. Tried everything to stop - organs failing - bad DTs to blackouts. Decided to take her life, but didn't want to leave a mess for her children.Katy's sobriety date is 05DEC2005 and he

Owl 089 Katherine

Nov 1st, 2020 53m 56s

It took Katharine 20 years to get 4 years. For the first time, she seriously thought she'd die. She crawled into AA and asked for help for the first time. Before that, she'd gone to get her driver's license or thought she was hopeless. Kindness