 | Biography/Personal Statement
I was born in Long Brach, New Jersey to a Vietnam vet who married a
local hometown girl (single mother with three children).
I grew up in Highlands, New Jersey, spending the summer months
at my grandmothers and the winter months in Asbury Park where I
attended to school. Drugs
and drinking are like water and air in these places, I enjoyed them
both. I always worked
hard because this lifestyle cost money.
I dropped out of school with no qualifications at the age of 16
and went to work full-time, framing houses for my dad.
By the age of nineteen, I needed money to support my daughter
born June 24, 1985. By
1986 my addictions escaladed to
the point of endless partying and questionable activities.
This led to a 7 year sentence of
imprisonment for juvenile delinquency.
I served 44 months and returned to the streets with a vengeance
and addictions still in tact. I
see the wake of my destruction is evident over the course of my life.
It’s very sad. My ignorance and selfishness made it so I never really
had a chance. Today there
is a break in the fog and I thank God.
Today I live my life one day at a time. I
have a good rapport with a higher power whom I choose to call Jesus and
with my peers. Recognizing
the need to change my journey has taken me to halfway houses and
hospitals which have led me to a program of recovery.
It led me to a decision to change.
Looking for a new start I came to Trenton.
Through a friend at the AA program I came to what would later
be called the Tabor house during a period of reconstruction looking
for employment. I began working in the house and was attracted to the vision
as it was presented to me. By
Christmas of that year the vision had become manifested and I applied
to residency. This time I
arrived not looking for work but for peace having been attracted to
the spirit of the house. The
Tabor House serves as the foundation I need to meet my potential and
become what I am meant to be, sober, happy, helpful to others,
reconciled to others, and spiritual.
I do that by living right, being present in the lives of
others, by clearing the wreckage of my past, and striving to improve
the future one day at a time. My
life today is filled with peace, love, and gratitude. I am thankful for the gift of sobriety. I am thankful for
loved ones and my family. I
work hard achieving my potential, it is a new way of life for me.
I enjoy AA meetings and helping others in need.
Today, I have something to offer them. I hope to return to school some day and become a
teen drug and alcohol counselor and mentor. I fell great pain when I
think of the people in the streets who will not return to the safe
place I call sanity. I
love AA and God because together they have taught me that Today has
been a good one if I didn’t drink or drug.
There are many calls on my day, I need to work, go to AA
meetings, need to pray, need to learn to live with others, need to
change.
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