Al-Anon: Polly P from Jacksonville Florida

Al-Anon: Polly P from Jacksonville Florida

How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This recording from the Buffalo Fall Convention brings you Polly P from Jacksonville, Florida, sharing her long-term recovery story with warmth, humour, and a hefty dose of straight talk.

Polly introduces herself simply: “By God’s grace and a programme called Alcoholics Anonymous, I haven’t had a drink since April the 11th of 1977.” From there, you’ll hear about the three cornerstones she still treats as non‑negotiable after decades sober: a home group, a sponsor, and sponsoring others. She jokes about being “busier in the rooms” than ever, yet it’s clear she means business when she says, “We never get too sober in this programme. We never get too sober.

We just get a day at a time.” This talk is especially powerful for anyone dealing with the family side of alcoholism. Polly openly describes years of rage, pills, alcohol, and the damage done to her two sons. She doesn’t soften the language: her sponsor once told her, “Polly, you are a child abuser,” and she explains how facing that truth, writing out her amends, and listening to her sons’ anger became part of her healing.

There’s plenty here for those with long-term sobriety too. Polly stresses that alcoholism is “a progressive illness” and that her solution has to keep progressing as well: five meetings a week, constant work in the Big Book, daily spiritual maintenance, and lots of service. She shares how sponsorship, repeated step work, and practising traditions in her marriage have kept her grounded through financial loss, serious illness, and family heartbreak.

If you’re looking for a raw, honest AA story that shows both the wreckage and the ongoing repair, this one might leave you asking: what more could be possible if you treated your recovery as seriously – and joyfully – as Polly does?