Story of Hope Alcohol Recovery Campaign

Never forget who was with you when you had nothing

Preface

This is my life story up until I became sober and had to rethink my ways. It starts off with my parents and their upbringing and gives a little insight into where I began as a child and growing up. Thank you to all family members that helped elaborate on my parents and their input. The idea for me writing this was born from being fired from my job after 10 years of working for the company on the day of my anniversary working with the group. All in all I worked for them for over 15 years on and off. The real crux of the book is actually a message that my psychologist Andre Brink inspired me with while we were discussing in one of our sessions about how 1 person can make a difference to others who then in turn can also make a difference after a guest speaker by the name of Tod Collins who had given a talk about being a recovering anxiety patient at the same rehab I was in. And instead of just venting all the bad deeds that had happened with my previous employer and spill the beans, I decided to tell a story that some might not believe, my wife Mel for one doesn’t believe me, or may I say not even know of some of the things that I did, but to encourage and give HOPE to those that have lost their way in life like I did.

I love that song by Johnny Cash, ‘’A boy named Sue”, where he sings about “I gave you that name because the world is rough and you gotta be tough to survive”. And the world is tough and sometimes people do the wrong things for the right reasons, say the wrong things and just are plain old nasty. Sometimes when I relive my past thinking of how I am going to put it into the story, it scares the living shit out of me. Especially for the type of family I grew up in and my circumstances of not being some sort of degenerate, if I can say that. So just like I had to change so did the reason for the book.

The story also talks of many things that were also good in my life and those that like I said who inspired me, saved me and were and are my crutch to this day. Some don’t know it but they will find out after reading this. Problem is that I have to be careful in what I say and about whom so at some points in the story, your name might not come up, so SORRY. It is just to protect those that know the facts and I don’t want them to have to bear the burden of being shunned or humiliated due to the things that I had done even if they had caused the problem.

You will hear stories of addiction, abuse, drug dealings, deaths, sacrifice, turmoil, hatred, regret, prostitution, marriage, divorce, love, fighting, lies, deceit, chaos, betrayal, friendships, guilt, wishes, bad decisions, good decisions, businesses that worked and those that did not, ethics, lust, disapproval, depression, family, sense of being, accomplishments, failures, strange shit and most importantly.

RECOVERY