Biography/Personal Statement
Hello peoples,
I am Dave and I AM an alcoholic.
I was born on
Ft.
Brag
in
Fayetteville
,
N.C.
on October 19, 1977. My father was in the Army. He got out
about a year after I was born. After that we moved back to
N.J. We moved around a lot. As far as I can remember we
moved at least once a year until I was sixteen. Each year a
new school and new friends. Sometimes we would move in the
middle of a school year. So as you can see I was always the
new kid in class. It
was hard to keep friends. People sometimes ask me, “Where
are you from”. All I can tell them is “Earth”.
My parents got divorced
when I was about twelve or thirteen. My father had a drink
and drugs problem that tore the family apart. I really
don’t remember much of him being around. I have a few
memories but they aren’t very good ones. After they split
I got real rebellious, mom couldn’t control me and my two
brothers. I would spend days away from home and when I got
back mom didn’t say anything. I don’t know why.
I was sixteen or so and
living in
Jackson
when I had started drinking. The guys I hung around with
were a bit older than I was. It wasn’t long until I
measured my money by how much beer I could buy. Two fortys,
three fortys. My friends thought it was a big joke but
that's how I was. I never had much money. But when I did it
went on buying beer.
My drinking progressed
pretty quickly and before I knew it I was a daily drinker, I
was doing a lot of drugs too. My life was pretty
unmanageable from the start. I was a blackout drinker
immediately. This became a big problem as I began to do
things I wouldn’t normally do, things like drink and
drive. I have gotten 3 DUI's and so now I can not drive
until the year 2015. Whoa! I didn’t get in trouble every
time I drank but every time I got in trouble I was drunk.
This went on for 11 years.
Mom knew I had a problem
she would say I was an alcoholic but I would tell her that
alcoholics went to meetings whereas I was simply a drunk.
Big difference right? Well, guess who was right! I was going
to hell in a hand basket. I needed help and offered up a
little fox hole prayer for God to get me out of the mess I
was in. Though I continued to drink God helped me out anyway
and here's how...
I was kicked out of the
room I was renting. But still I kept on drinking. I was
living in my car until I got my third DUI. You would think
that might stop me. Buzz, wrong, still I kept on.
Mom is a Christian woman going to church and to prayer
groups. At one group she had made a request for me to get
help. I wanted to go to a rehab but had no money. At this
particular group a woman who didn’t normally attend
mom’s church was there for the first time and came to my
mom after the meeting telling her that she worked for the
Salvation Army. She explained that there was a free rehab in
Trenton
and that if I showed up they would give me a bed. So guess
what I did. I kept on drinking. I still had my car and so I
still had a place to sleep. After another trip to court my
license was taken away and now I had no place to sleep. Self
will run riot, it'll kill you eventually. I have a beautiful
girl that loves me and has been there for me throughout. She
let me sleep in her car with the promise that after the
weekend I would finally go to rehab. So that’s what I did
in June of 2003. The night before I was to go I slept on the
sand in the woods next to a lake near her house...homeless!
I have been in a few other sober houses here in
Trenton
. I’m not going to knock those houses but they just
didn’t work for me. While I was living in those houses I
met Shawn at a meeting and he had
brought me here to meet the guys. Since then I have been
hanging around here because I wanted to stay sober and these
guys seemed like a sober bunch. Hanging around here at their
weekly meals I met Tommy, we had some things in common so we
made friends and now are pretty much inseparable. He
temporarily sponsored me until I found a permanent sponsor.
I was hanging around here so much Gez said that he was going
to start charging me rent. Little did I know a week later I
would be living here.
Since moving to
Trenton
I have had a tough time staying sober and have relapsed
several times. I just kept taking my will back. Now my
sobriety date is 08/08/2004, and one day at a time I hope
never to change that date again. This time I have made the
admission of powerlessness over alcohol and recognized that
only God can restore me to sanity. It took me a year to
realize that God can not lift the obsession to drink from me
if I don’t surrender. So that is what I am earnestly
trying to do each day, to give my life over to the care of
God. Now I have a sponsor and I am trying to work the 12
steps.
While I have been in the Tabor house my life has begun to
change. I’m able to sleep through a whole night, I
haven’t done that in months. I’m not as edgy as I was,
ask my girl. My relationship with her has gotten so much
better since I have settled down. When I first moved in to
the house I was out of work for three weeks now I have my
own crew, at least when the weather lets us work. Things are
getting better at a rapid pace, though I know I can lose it
all in an instant if I pick up a drink, a drug or run on
self will again.
Well that’s about it. I hope you got a little insight into
who I am. I want to thank you for all your support.
Acknowledgements: first and foremost I have to thank God
for giving me life; Mom & Dad thank you for all of your
examples, what to do and what not to do; Erin baby-girl
thank you for all your support and love; Tommy
you have been a great friend and thank you for all you
have done for me without you I wouldn’t be where I am; Gez
and all the Taborites
thank you for making me feel welcome.
