I was born into a modest type of upbringing with 4 sisters and one brother, I was the fourth oldest and the only one to have a substance abuse issue..

At the age of 12/13 my friend and I decided to get with the older guys and get some beer, I did not like the taste initially but soon fell in love with it, the taste and the effect. Little did I know the can of beer would open up my Pandora's box and that a life of complete unmanageability would follow. Though I soon took other drugs it seemed that alcohol relaxed me and relieved me of anxiety. I began to drink on a regular basis throughout my High School days and as the group of guys I ran with grew so did the amount we drank. By the time the 60's hit full swing I was smoking weed and drinking wine on a daily basis. I didn't know then like I know now that I was addicted and already an alcoholic. I didn't know that I had embarked upon a journey that would result in pain, loneliness, isolation and hopelessness. Nor did I know it would take me to places I didn't want to go eventually leaving me homeless and destitute. Alcoholism can be a subtle foe that gets a hold of you no matte how strong you think you are. It sneaks right on in before you are able to detect it. Other drugs too crept up on me the same way and though I was young and dreams drugs and alcohol saw to it that none of my life's goals were ever carried out.
Despite being a gifted and paid musician, a senior life-guard and holding a black belt in Tang So Do, I dropped everything, cared about nothing other than my fix. By the age of 29, I was introduced to heroin. In a very short time I needed no instructions, heroin would dictate where I would go, which streets to go down, when to sleep, eat, wake, where to buy etc etc Drinking and drugging was my life it took everything, robbed me of everything and left me sleeping in abandoned buildings or a dug out in the local baseball field.
Do we come to A. A. because we cant take it anymore or do we come because our score cards read zero? Were we destined to choose alcohol as our master  were we born alcoholics and if so unable to heed the childhood warnings from others, or do we simply exhaust all options to the point where we are finally "driven" to A. A....I am not sure. When I came to Tabor House after bouncing in and out of recovery houses I noticed a different way of doing things. It is more of a spiritually based manner of living. A sort of spiritual reconstruction, its like returning to Gods Playground. There is a togetherness here, a fellowship, we are all learning to love each other the way God intended us to. To live as, and love one another as brothers. 

There is not enough paper in this house to write about all the pain and suffering this disease causes nor is there enough to write about the gratitude and love I now have for the correct way of living. If you don't believe in God and are suffering from addiction or afraid or do not have spirituality then Tabor House is for you...as sure as God made beer, it most certainly is.