What it was like?

Drinking and drugs almost killed me many times and I couldn't stop.

What happened?

I was coming around the rooms of recovery and I learned that there was help, it just didn't click in right away. I tried from 1987 my first rehab till 1990 bouncing around. Finally I found what I was missing and that was a Higher Power that I have been asking to help me at the start of each day ever since.

What it is like now?

I wake up each morning in peace and I know I am blessed. I have two boys 25 and 26 years young and they never seen their dad high. I have been at the same job 26 years and I still go to meetings to give back what was freely given to me. I also wrote a book on my life when I couldn't even read before recovery. It's called True Blue Friend which is my disease. My True Blue Friend showed me a good time, took me to a lot of great places, gave me the strength I needed to communicate with people without fear. But did he? No, my True Blue Friend lied to me. Had me believing I couldn’t do anything without him. It was so hard to escape from his grasp, but once I did, I realized he wasn’t my friend, he was my greatest enemy. His goal was to see me suffer and die. My goal is to not let him succeed. My Higher Power pulled me from the gates of hell to show me a new way of life and has never left my side. My higher power gave me the strength to tell my story to help other people. My story is honest, sad, real life events with no desire to go back to what I was. It also tells the joys and happiness I have been blessed with in recovery. The high I was chasing all those years with the help of my True Blue Friend, I found without him right here in recovery helping others.