RRP 112 — Paul O. / One Burgundy Sock at a Time: Recovery, Service, and the Art of Staying

Presented by Julie P. Lewis & Peter B. Dowell • Release Date: May 1, 2026 • Runtime: 1 hr 33 min

Paul O. showed up at his first AA meeting on October 7, 1991—a lesbian stag meeting in Reno where they welcomed him only as “Pauline.” More than three decades later, he carries a story you won’t forget: how a gentle inner voice once talked him into getting sober one burgundy sock at a time. Paul traces his journey through multiple addictions, a relapse after 13 years, a completed First Step, and the daily practice of mending his net—meeting by meeting, sock by sock.

Key Points

00:04:00Paul’s sobriety date—October 7, 1991, Reno, NV—and his full picture of addiction: alcohol, compulsive sex, overeating, and casino gambling
00:05:00Standing near a bridge with no money and no hope—and the one thought of his mother that pulled him back
00:06:30His first meeting: welcomed as “Pauline,” and the Brooklyn woman named Kathy who hugged him and said “you keep coming back”
00:13:30The Burgundy Sock Story—how one voice negotiated him from “all the clothes” down to just one sock, and the lesson he’s carried for 35 years
00:17:30Walking near Mount Tabor with suicidal ideation—asking God for 15 seconds of quiet, then 30 minutes, then four days, then gone
00:38:00Becoming “Coffee Pot Guy”—how service gave him his identity in the rooms and why he calls it magic
01:11:00New Zealand: 13 years sober, a checklist, and the relapse that finally completed his First Step
01:22:00The fisherman’s net—Paul’s metaphor for daily meeting attendance and what happens when you stop mending
01:28:00How Paul learned to love the people who annoyed him most—and the strategy his mother gave him that still works
01:37:00Noticing resistance, finding a shred of willingness, and the pause between impulse and action

“Sometimes when a task feels so overwhelming that you just gotta keep breaking it down to whatever you actually can do.”

— Paul O.

Websites Discussed

Alcoholics Anonymous — The Big Book — https://www.aa.org/the-big-book
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions — https://www.aa.org/twelve-steps-twelve-traditions
Living Sober — https://www.aa.org/living-sober-book
Drop the Rock / Drop the Rock — The Ripple Effect — https://www.hazelden.org/store/item/488137
Daily Reflections — https://www.aa.org/daily-reflections
Just for Today (pamphlet) — https://onlineliterature.aa.org
Lunch Bunch / Extended Family AA Online — https://sites.google.com/view/lbefaa
Real Recovery Podcast — https://www.realrecoverypodcast.com

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