Bobby C. AA Male

**Bobby C.** (0:09)
My name is Bobby C. I'm an alcoholic.
Through the grace of God, the 12 steps and sponsorship, I've been sober since June 2nd of 1988 For that, I'm grateful.
So are my neighbors.
I was one of those. Whatever the hell I said 26 years ago would work, he'd been still here. But you know, and you guys invited me back again. You used to do this summer conference, too. It didn't last that long, a couple years. I must have killed that, but I was here. So it's always good to be here in Columbus. You know, I know you guys are big fans of the Wolverines.
I actually...
There was a kid from my high school. He was much younger than me, though. He came out here and played football, a kid by the name of Eddie George. And when I walked through the airport that day, I saw that he had a restaurant. So I was gonna say, Oh, Eddie, we went to the same high school. Hook me up. So... But chapter five is real clear. I am supposed to share in a general way what my life was like as an active alcoholic. What happened to me and what my life is like today as an active member of Alcoholics Anonymous. And I've been an active member of Alcoholics Anonymous since I've come in. I haven't gone back out since I've come in. That doesn't make me better than anyone. Our two co-founders were in and out. So, you know, but I don't know why I didn't pick up a drink my first couple of years, because I did everything wrong you could do in Alcoholics Anonymous. So, but this is it. So I was born and raised in a blue collar ethnic neighborhood in Philadelphia. I'm one of eight. My mother was pregnant for 11 years.
She was.
I have a sister who's 11 months older than me. I am 11 months older than my next sister. None of this Irish twins. This is Irish octuplets, yeah.
I never felt a part of, you know, living in a small tree bed in my room. My parents in one room, me and my three brothers, two sets of bunk beds in one room, and we have four girls in the other room, two sets of bunk beds. And I never felt a part of, and that would be true, into early recovery. Both sets of my grandparents were immigrants. They came from the north of Ireland, County Tyrone. They came over here at the turn of the last century. And so my parents, being children of immigrants, knew one of the ways to make it in the country was by education. So they made a great deal of sacrifice to provide that education to me and my siblings.
So my drinking really took... The first time I had a drink, the very first drink I had, I remember yesterday, it was Ballantine beer. And I remember that because Ballantine used to sponsor the Phillies. And my father would take me up to Connie Mack Stadium to see the Phillies play. And they had... their logo was like three interlocking circles, and they had their scoreboard in right center field. And I was at my...
my grandparents' house around the corner. These would be my dad's parents. My father was one of 12 My mother, she was from a much smaller family. She was one of 11 So there was... there was always a party. There was always a graduation and a confirmation, some sort of communion. There was something going on. And that's why I had my first drink. And I remember I was running around polishing off the HIF empties, or the HIF fulls, it depends on your perception. And I'm knocking them back, and I remember my uncles, look at Bobby. And again, like, I never felt a part of. So I went to this private Jesuit high school, and most of the kids who went to the school were from affluent families from the suburbs. Me and a couple other dirtballs from my neighborhood, we went there. And this school was the inner city, and we used to walk to school, and most of these kids were from affluent suburbs, and it was their first introduction to the inner city. So right away, we had a reputation, and it's something that we capitalized on. For instance, as these kids were getting dropped off by their parents in their luxury automobiles, me and the guys from the neighborhood were inside robbing their lockers. Now, I knew that was wrong. I knew that by the values instilled in me by the nonsense of a kid and by my parents, but the need for me to be accepted by you outweighed anything else. And I had a lot of nicknames, and one of those nicknames was Crazy Coil. And I felt very uncomfortable doing so many things, but I certainly didn't want to disappoint you. And we did other things, like we saw football pools, and if you hit, we wouldn't pay off.