Awesome Al-Anon speaker Barbara K. tells her story as she struggled with her minister alcoholic husband’s disease and how her family found recovery. (Please visit us at www.alanonspeakers.com!!)
In good Al-Anon fashion, she tells us “how it was”, “what happened”, and “what it's like now” and although her story of “how it was” will always stay the same, her story of “how it is now” continues to change for the better, as long as she stays with her program.
It’s an empowering message of hope to hear that her and her husband Russel have a great relationship today, and since finding recovery, have had 5 weddings, and 13 grandchildren born in their family. She recounts many of the gifts she has received, and wonders what life would be like without AA and Al-Anon.
Thanks so much for listening to this speaker and we hope it helps you in your recovery! Please like and subscribe and visit www.alanonspeakers.com for more great speakers! Warning, we won’t ruin her talk, but the next few paragraphs describe the talk in detail, and contain a few spoilers!!
Barbara spends about the first 40 minutes in the “how it was” portion of her talk. Although they did not drink during the first 8 years of their marriage and Lutheran ministry, the first time she saw her husband drunk, she was embarrassed for him. In the following years, the liquor cabinet kept getting bigger and bigger, until she finally realized that there was a problem with their relationship. It still took Barbara quite a long time to connect those problems to her husbands alcoholism.
By the time their youngest daughter was two, their family was in distress. When trying to get her husband help by taking him to a psychiatrist, she ended up being the one committed. She was determined to help her “sick” husband, but no one from the congregation would believe her over the “Pastor.” Furthermore, her behavior was such, that her children believed she was the one with the drinking problem! Barbara K. still manages to recover through Al-Anon, and the grace of her higher power.