"I am now happy to say that I have over two years of sobriety."
My story begins in 1993 when my addiction began. I initially was addicted to alcohol, and then marijuana shortly after. I never graduated high school because of my addictions, and that meant that I could never serve in the Navy. I really started to run into trouble in 1998, because I was arrested for possession of a large amount of marijuana. Later that year, I was arrested in Pittsburgh for the same thing. That didn’t slow my addiction down at all. I was put on parole, and went to jail for both arrests. By 2000, I was arrested for my first DUI. That brought me to tripping mushrooms, Acid, Ecstasy, and finally my addiction to Cocaine. In 2001, I was arrested for my second DUI, and should have been charged with possession of cocaine too; but, my passenger took the blame for me and put the cocaine in his sock. In 2005, I had a beautiful daughter; I thought that would bring on some change for me, but it did not. My daughter’s first Christmas, I was in jail for a parole violation. I served more time for parole violations; I couldn’t pass drug tests.
In 2009, things started to turn around a bit. I got a really good job making $17.00 an hour, and met my future son’s mother, Rachel. I had called out of work a lot because of being hungover and called out to fly to Oklahoma to meet her. I ended up losing my job, and conceived a child with her. I had no business doing any of that in my situation and with my addictions. She flew back to Oklahoma to have her son in 2011. I was not in the picture because I ran away from her in fear of the responsibility. I wasn’t even doing a good job being a father to my daughter.
In 2011, I also got my third DUI, which I ended up doing house arrest for. In 2014, I met and had a really great girlfriend. She ended up having an abortion because she caught me drinking, and didn’t want the twins to have any drugs or alcohol in their system when they were born. I lied to her, and said I wasn’t drinking anymore.
All of that and I was still an addict until April 2015. I took my boss’s truck after a bowling banquet party, where I got super intoxicated. I took his truck without permission to try and score some cocaine. Before I could get to the coke, I destroyed his truck by driving it off the side of a road. That did not stop me though, I kept driving the smashed-up truck until I was two blocks away from the cocaine. That earned me my fourth DUI. April 20th was a miracle day. I finally realized what drugs and alcohol were doing to me. I reached out to God, I cried out to him and checked myself into rehab on April 23. While in rehab, I wrote my boss a letter apologizing to him for taking his truck, and I told him that I have a problem and am working on it. I checked out of rehab 23 days later. All that time I was on probation, I did not know if I was going to be charged with vehicle theft. I started attending AA meetings back in my neighborhood church.
This is why I am sharing my story. I am now happy to say that I have over two years of sobriety. I feel God, AA, and rehab have delivered me from addiction. I also got to meet my son for the first time in May of 2017. I now have an awesome relationship with both of my children. I have a great job, and never miss work. My life has done a 360.
