She knew the rooms. She just didn't think they'd ever be hers.

"Before I even gave myself to God, I just feel like I'm blessed." That's how Cassandra P. opens her story — and she means it without a trace of irony. She grew up with a mother who got sober cold turkey before she was born, attended AA meetings from age five, and never once saw either of her parents high. If recovery had a blueprint for raising a child who'd never need it, her mom Julie — our co-host — followed it.

And at 32, Cassandra still ended up in addiction.

"I've never seen either of my parents high or caught in addiction. That's another blessing I have in my life."

— Cassandra P.

That's the heartbreak at the center of this episode. And the reason we think it's one of the most important conversations we've ever had on this show.

Cassandra was the sports girl. Basketball, softball, water polo, ten years in the exact same Girl Scout troop. She had a front-row seat to what recovery looked like — the sponsors, the steps, the community that rallied around her family. AA wasn't a mystery. It was just Tuesday nights. She assumed that meant she was protected.

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She wasn't.

The drift was slow. College, a lost identity, social drinking that felt like nothing except fun. Then a salary job that broke her, a three-month break with no structure, a boyfriend whose money came easy. And before she understood what was happening, she was using cocaine and alcohol to stay numb, six months behind on her mortgage, and too ashamed to call her mother.

"I didn't wanna be around her not because of her," Cassandra says. "Because of me."

In May 2024, she walked through the doors of Another Chance in Portland. Two years sober now — and in Part 2, you'll hear what recovery actually looked like for her from the inside. But don't skip ahead. Part 1 is the episode that will make you sit with a harder question: if it could happen to Cassandra, what does that mean for the people you love?

You need to hear this one. Listen here.

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RRP 118 — Cassandra P. / Love Wasn't Enough, Part 1: Growing Up Inside Recovery — Then Having to Find It Herself

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