Ralph's two-year-old daughter caught him taking money from her piggy bank. Years later, a photo at her UCLA graduation shows him what AA has helped make possible: being a father his daughters can trust. ☀️ Sober Sunrise App Listen to Sober Sunrise AA speaker talks anytime, track your sober time, take a daily pledge, and keep recovery support close throughout the day. 📱 https://sober-sunrise.com/app If you enjoy the app or find it useful in your recovery, a quick rating or review on the App Store would mean a lot and helps more people find Sober Sunrise. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive Hundreds of AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Ralph grew up in South Central Los Angeles, one of six boys raised by a mother who returned to school, worked two jobs, and kept the family together after his father left. A straight-A student and student leader, he wanted to stand out, but lived in what he calls the prison of what he thought other people thought about him. A first drink at 16 seemed to supply the confidence he lacked. Party drinking became daily drinking and drug use, and even after college and a job counseling students, his life narrowed around getting loaded. He describes repossessed cars, stealing from his wife's purse, taking change from his daughter's piggy bank, and returning to his mother's home after being put out of his own. He wanted desperately to be a father, yet could barely stay for a half-hour visit before disappearing. By October 11, 1986, he was exhausted enough to enter another recovery program and begin listening differently in AA. He had previously repeated other people's impressive lines while continuing to get loaded. This time, he brought willingness and learned to read the Big Book for similarities in drinking, thinking, feelings, and actions instead of dismissing the differences in Bill's life. Ralph connects recovery with sponsorship, the Twelve Steps, meetings, working with another alcoholic, and becoming available to a power greater than himself. Twenty years sober does not mean life has been easy: he describes financial trouble, moving back to his mother's house at 16 years sober, and learning to ask whether things are all right in this moment. The gifts show up in ordinary family life. His younger daughter trusts that he will come home when he says he will, his older daughter graduates from UCLA with him there beside her, and the brothers give their mother a surprise 75th birthday party, the first party she has ever had. Throughout this warm, funny AA talk, Ralph celebrates the people whose service keeps recovery available and the families changed when someone comes back to life. He closes with enthusiasm, gratitude, and a reminder that laughter belongs in a program he takes seriously. Ralph W. from Los Angeles, CA speaking at the Santa Barbara Convention in Santa Barbara, CA - October 2006 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
