My Life Story

My Life Story

By David L.

I was born March 25th 1969. I am 43 years old and I am from New Jersey. I have been arrested several times all because of alcohol. Plus, twice in 2 countries: Australia and the Bahamas.

I got a few DUI's been to 5 rehabs. Both of my grandfathers, who i have never met, died of alcoholism.  My 1st drink was when i was 4 years old sitting on my dads lap sipping a "Schaeffer beer". 

I was always being grounded a lot as a youth and also ran away a couple of times ending up in Maryland one cold rainy night.

Even though my parents raised me in a strict manner, i still got into some sort of mischief. Attention was something i always needed, especially with 5 siblings. My two older brothers and my one older sister always had thrown parties everytime my parents went away for a day or a week so, of course, i was always down in the basement stealing beer from the keg.

At the age of 14, i finally tried smoking pot and started drinking more with my friends. This is the age where I also started stealing liquor from my parents cabinet.

I tried to fill the "now" half emply liquor bottles with water which would only dilute it but i didnt realize they would notice. They did. They finally took me to my 1st A.A. meeting at the age of 14. It was scary seeing all of these much older people there.

I always loved sports, especially baseball (which i never had a chance to play) because both of my older brothers excelled in track and cross country and did extremely well so, all of the coaches expected me to follow their foot steps even though i wanted to play baseball. to this day , i still have resentments over this.

I eventually went to a county college and studied liberal arts and practically took every course in the art field that was available. The only problem was that i started drinking almost every time i went to college class. Horrible decision.!

As years went by, i continued to drink and binge drink more and more. Most of my close childhood friends either moved away, got married or just disappeared. Soon i felt really alone. My brother talked me into going to a Chiropractic College in Marietta Georgia to study Chiropractic care. I did pretty good for a few semesters until i needed to work full time.

That caused allot of stress and I started failing many class courses. so, what did i do? I drank to ease the pain. Allot! Soon after doing this for some time, i could no longer do the school thing anymore due to my hardcore partying so i quit school and moved back to NJ.

But before leaving, i was getting ready to leave and drive my car home to NJ and decided to invite some friends over my apartment to celebrate my birthday. so, like an idiot, i happened to smoke cigarettes a little and decided to take my car to a convenient store less than one mile away. Of course there was a cop behind me and i got another DUI.

So, i had to stay a few more months in Georgia to go to court, be sentenced and finish my 50 hours of community service raking leaves in a graveyard!
Now, about getting arrested in Australia, i went there to go to another school which was cheaper and was Chiropractic oriented .

Once i got off the plane, DRUNK off my ass, i was immediately called into an interigation office and they asked me for my school visa but i had a travel visa which was the wrong visa because you must have a school visa to go to any school in Australia.

so, i was arrested and deported to Los Angeles the very next day very disappointed. I decided to stay in LA for a week and got drunk all day every day until i was again arrested for public intoxication. They were actually cool police and let me sleep it off then released me.

I also got arrested in the Bahamas. I was trying to join an "Ashram" ( this is a place to learn Yoga, Meditation, healthy eating, and adapt, adjust, and accommodate to any life situation) . 

Before I paid my one month to stay at this Ashram, since I got their late, they let me set up my tent and said they would take care of the financially tomorrow. So, being an Alcoholic/Addict what did I do? ... Hmm? just take one guess.... 

I left the Ashram and my tent with all of my belongings to walk to the nearest bar. I got lucky and found one right on the beach!  I must have bought4 -5 bottles of Jamaican Rum, drinking almost 3 full bottles, and eventually stumbled back to my tent very late at night.

To my surprise, the head of the Ashram had to shake me awake knowing I was still drunk because I reeked of alcohol and plus there were 2 full bottles in plain view in my tent.

He was so bothered by this that he called the police and they came and arrested me. So, off to a Jamaican Prison I went. It wasn't like your typical jail I have ever been in.

It was really dirty, smelly, and full of people that you could never trust. Being that I was from the U.S. , Convicts started asking me for money and some of my clothes. I told them I had no money but gave away about 3 pairs of pants and 4 shirts just to get them off my back.

Anyway, I was able to finally make a phone call to my Dad in New Jersey, and he wirered money to the Prison for me to be released. To this day, I am still not allowed to visit the Bahamas because of my stupid drunk ass!

Finally took a plane back to N. J. and decided to drive out to Colorado (with a revoked licence) (stupid idea) but I never told my parents about this and went ahead and started driving very carefully and obeying every speed limit. I had family out there and they agreed to let me stay in their house for a few months until i got a job and on my feet.

I kept drinking heavy and eventually my brother in law kicked me out of the house so i had to find a new place to live and got lucky with a roommate looking for someone. one night i was so drunk that i walked into a house for sale. all the lights were out so i assumed no one was there.

I went to the refrigerator and ate food and then left. when i was about 50 yards away, i noticed a light turned on in that house so i ran so fast that i almost passed out. but i did get away. whew!

I once passed out on a farm with cows everywhere and when i woke up in the morning, my head was 1 inch from a huge pile of cow meanuer. After being in Colorado for a few years, my girlfriend (at the time) and myself agreed to move to Hawaii to start a new life. It was wonderful for the 1st few months. I was clean and sober for about 5 months.

It felt like the longest ever in my life!  But of course, those evil demons and negative thoughts came back to me eventually and i started drinking again. I was so drunk one night that i had no money so i  went to a convient store and stole a bottle of booze. the owner saw this and tried to tackle me to the ground but i managed to get up and run away.

My girlfriend couldn't take anymore of my drinking and wanted me gone. She at least helped me get into a rehab in Florida where my insurance from my job took care of this. so, off to Florida i went, said goodbye to my girlfriend. I stayed at the rehab for 65 days and thought my drinking days were finally over.

Was I wrong!

The minute i was released from the facility, they put me into a halfway house where you have more freedom to do things as long as you follow their rules. so, what did i do my first day? I told them i was going out to look for a job but went to a liquor store and got drunk.

when i got back to the halfway house, they took notice and kicked me out instantly!
Now, i was completely on my own. I remember sleeping my 1st few nights under a bridge with other homeless people. I could not believe my life came to this!

My parents took me in again in N. J. as long as i followed their strict rules: going to
A. A. meetings or N.A. meetings  everyday and seeing a psychiatrist.

I eventually hooked up with my friends landscaping business and was grateful to be able to live next door with his mother in law.

 

*** Fast forwarding to the future ***

I got really drunk one day and my friend Janet, told me to leave and not come back ever! She was extremely upset and so was my friend who hired me to landscape.

So, with what ever money i had left, i bought the biggest bottle of vodka and drank almost half of it, got really drunk, and slipped and fell on the road landing on my chin fracturing my jaw which hurt for months. It took me 2 weeks to be able to even open my mouth to eat something like bread.

Again, this time my folks told me that i can stay at their house as long as i got into another rehab and if not, they would take me to a homeless shelter.

I eventually found a state funded rehab because i had no insurance. This time of the year was Christmas, which was 2 weeks away and my entire family was going to be at the house. I was so humiliated, embarrassed, in shame and very mentally ill for seeing everyone already knowing my situation.

It was the worst Christmas i have ever had!

Rehab time came so i went and stayed there for 31 days. This time i paid a little more attention to the speakers and all of the A. A. and N. A. meetings we had 3 times a day. After rehab way over, i applied over the phone to a recovery house called "The Oxford House". I had an interview and they accepted me. Thank God! because i really had nowhere else to go.

I stayed in the house for 1 year, made some really good recovering friends and still talk to some of them through Facebook.

I am 43 years old now and I am NOT cured. There is NO CURE for this disease only help and self-awareness. I control my desisions, not the liquor store or drug dealer on the corner.

I still have a lot of work to do. I 100% still have a problem with alcohol and even certain pain meds. I need to find out what those demons are inside of me that make me want to drink.

Hopefully, i will find that out soon. Because i want to live, i do not want another pair of handcuffs on me, i don't want to put my family in stress ever again, i want to continue living and exploring this wonderful earth but only sober and clean.

 

Life Is Beautiful - Sobriety is Beautiful - Recovery is Amazing !

 

Thank You all for reading my life story .

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David L. ( Recovering Addict )

 

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