Addiction Hurts Everyone

Recently, I have made compelling statements like "If you love your kids stop killing their father." I have shared that I am an addictions counselor with 18 years of experience and degrees in substance abuse counseling and clinical psychology. What I might not have told you is that I struggled with alcoholism and that I have 20 years of recovery. There is one thing that I definitely haven't told you about.

For as long as I can remember my father struggled with addiction. When I was a child he used to drive us around with a bottle of gin under the car seat. One night he was driving home, passed out and sideswiped a car. 45 minutes later he came out of blackout in another county and asked me where we are at. My dad would drop me off at a friends house for the weekend, and while I should have been excited, I was tormented because he was still driving with my sister in the car. One night my dad was supposed to pick me up from work but never showed up, so I decided to walk home. On my way, I walked up a hill, and when I got to the top I saw 8 police cars and a medivac helicopter. My dad passed out and drove his car into an embankment at full speed. One night my dad passed out and crashed into a telephone pole with my little sister in the car.

On January 8, 1998 I was driving back from the gym and was behind an ambulance. I thought about whose house it could be going to. Deep down inside I knew that someday it was going to go to my house. I was so relieved when it passed my driveway but it slammed on its breaks. They meant to come to my house. I ran inside and found my dad blue on the floor, with no pulse. They revived him on the way to the hospital. The doctor told me that he was going to be on life support, and would call me about next steps.

By the grace of God, he survived and was put into an inpatient facility. The day I picked him up I put a Ruger p97 handgun on the center console and told my father if he touches a drink or a drug again that I was going to kill him. My siblings and I didn't want to be in pain anymore.

I'm not coming at y'all with an attitude of superiority. I don't think that because I read some books and earned a degree that makes me equipped to deal with what you are going through. This is my mission and I'm doing it because of my sister. She would dig nails into my arm every time I was speeding with our dad passed out in the car. She knew if he woke up and I was speeding that he would drive again. And that was her nightmare.

I want to change the lives of fathers struggling with addiction so that they can stop terrorizing their kids. I want to help kids who have addicted parents because the reality of it is most won't survive the struggle. I just want to help.

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