Al-Anon: Sue G from Branford CT

Al-Anon: Sue G from Branford CT

How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? Here, Al‑Anon member Sue G from Branford, Connecticut shares a raw, often funny and deeply moving account of growing up with an alcoholic mother and building a life she never thought she could have. Recorded at the 55th Connecticut State Convention in 2013, this is classic Sober Cast style: a straight-through speaker talk with no chit-chat, no analysis, just one person at the mic telling the truth.

You'll hear Sue describe being "born into alcoholism", feeling obsessed with her mother's drinking, and the loneliness of a childhood where the outside looked perfect but the inside was chaos. She talks about abusive situations, a marriage to a gay man she "should have stayed friends" with, and the moment she realised she wanted to die rather than keep living with active alcoholism at home.

Her story then shifts toward recovery: her rocky first attempt at Al‑Anon in the 1980s, coming back when a therapist refused to work with her unless she returned to meetings, and slowly learning to set boundaries and lean on a higher power.

Key threads run through her sharing: service work (from making terrible coffee to becoming a GR), dealing with sexual abuse and depression alongside Al‑Anon, reconnecting with long‑lost family, and caring for both her alcoholic mother and her brother with AIDS while trying not to lose herself. Sue captures the heart of family recovery when she says, "I got the life that I never thought that I would have" and jokes that Al‑Anon is her longest relationship.

This talk suits anyone affected by someone else’s drinking—especially adult children of alcoholics—who wants to hear how meetings, boundaries, and a spiritual connection can turn sheer survival into a fuller, more peaceful life. What parts of her story sound uncomfortably familiar to you?