I first started smoking pot at the age of 15 and was a full blown druggie months afterwards. My addiction was so excruciating that I don't even like to think about it. Before I started using, I was outgoing and had a passion for the game of basketball. I worked my whole adolescence for the shot to finally play on my Varsity High School basketball team. When I was a sophomore I was almost there and my game was excelling until I smoked marijuana for the first time.

 After my first get high experience I was hooked for 6 years never to have a passion other than chasing my next high. I have experienced every high and am surprised that I am still alive and not a vegetable. While in my addiction I experienced many highs but more devastating lows. The most meaningful series of events in my life came while trying to maintain a drug habit and deceive my probation officer into thinking that I was an upstanding citizen. I was regularly attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings with my Aunt Kimmie who was in the program. After meeting with many recovering alcoholics and addicts I decided that I was not in their category and continued to use. 

Then while in an abandoned building contemplating my life's worth, in a heroin stupor, staring at a dead pigeon carcass laying in the hallway, I had a spiritual awakening. Now mind you I didn't care much for life, so what seems common sense to the average person, was a spiritual awakening for me. A thought that I acquired from a meeting at the Trenton, Al-An club, crept in my hazy mind, whispering, " You could help someone else, after all that is the meaning of being alive." I knew that was it, that was my worth, and the journey began. I went to the final rehab and put forth a honest attempt at maintaining sobriety. It lasted ninety days of living in a different recovery house until another relapse, where I ended up at a desolate motel, with 3 days left until my next meeting with my probation officer. 

I made a call to my wonderful SOBER Aunt Kimmie who had her friend come and pick me up and I was admitted back into that recovery house. I detoxed there and made it passed my next visit with the P.O. From June 16, 2003, to the present hour, thanks to the saving grace of my Lord and Savior and the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous, I haven't used drugs or alcohol. 7 days sober I felt relief from bondage and knew that my journey to recovery would be adventurous, challenging, and worth all the heartache of change. 

5 months clean and starting to recognize the loneliness of giving up my relationships with my best friends, Drugs and Alcohol. My family accepted me back home and it was a relief to be in the daily company of my beloved mother, Sandy, father, Don, older sister, Angela, and youngest sister, Melissa. I love my family and I am ashamed and embarrassed for all the Grief and Pain that I caused in their lives because of my active addiction; however, they supported me through all the hard times and I am forever grateful for their everlasting compassion. 

Surrounded by love at home I began to heal, to start my career, and to finish school. Despite all of these wonderful blessings, at times I still felt confused and hopeless. After working with numerous sponsors, I finally found a man with a program I admired, Gez (see Bio), he accepted my request for help, and we began working together a deepening of the physical, mental and spiritual growth necessary for the daily recovery from the illness of alcoholism/addiction. While on a Matt Talbot retreat at St. Joseph In the Hills, (Malvern), I was praying fervently for God to direct my life according to His Will. Shortly after, I accepted Gez's offer to move into the Tabor Recovery House. 

The Tabor House has been a spiritual vortex for me since the day I arrived. I love all my brothers and enjoy witnessing each one's >growth. I have been able to help others and reach out for help on a daily basis and after 6 long years, I finally feel worthy of this >beautiful, blessed life that God has gave me. What a Gift, Praise God!!!!!