When a mom and her son travelled 4 hours to meet me... 🥹
Just over a year ago, I spoke at a youth recovery house. One of the young men there was starting to get involved with gangs and using drugs.
I shared my story how I went from gangs, addiction, and homelessness to recovery.
Afterward, he reached out for advice. I told him the biggest threat to his future wasn't just the drugs, it was the people he was surrounding himself with.
My advice was: finish treatment, leave the environment, leave the crowd, and start over.
Today, he's been sober for over a year, he has a job, a girlfriend and a future.
He told me hearing my story was a wake-up call. Seeing where my choices led made him realize the same thing could happen to him if he didn't change course.
Moments like this remind me that recovery is about so much more than getting sober. It's about giving people hope that their story doesn't have to end where it started.
I'm incredibly humbled.
A man who once slept homeless, battled addiction, and thought his life was over now gets to witness someone change the trajectory of their life because they heard my story.
Recovery gave me my life back.
Now it gives me purpose. ❤️
@ColinAddicts@eezharhh I get that but it doesn't change the reality of who carries that egg. To some it may be transactional but most are left with a life long wondering. It's not a route that should be taken lightly.
@ColinAddicts@eezharhh When the child is older, in most cases, they want to know their roots. I actually can't imagine how these children deal with this emotionally when they are older.
@ColinAddicts@eezharhh The baby is and will always be a part of the birthmom, and birth moms are not heartless, you don't grow a child for 9 months and not feel anything.
@PickleWilber@guyfelicella We become weak when we justify an Uber wealthy man who thinks he knows what's best for regular folk. When is enough for 1 person when 99% are in poverty.
@PickleWilber@guyfelicella You are so deep I'm not sure if you will be able to see just how sick and gluttonus his wealth is. It's not a wonder our world is in this mess.
@guyfelicella@2and20YT Not even just that but he did do this alone, no, how many did he force to work extra without pay or not paid well enough? How much funding came from tax payers?
I hope this helps someone today that's trying to figure things out.
People love to talk about "letting people hit rock bottom" or using "tough love" as if suffering is what saves people.
In my experience, it's often what kills them.
What changed my life wasn't abandonment, it was human connection.
For years, my grandmother watched me struggle with addiction. While others had given up hope, she never did.
Twice a year on my birthday and at Christmas she would come looking for me on the streets of Vancouver. She'd take me for a meal, give me a little money, tell me she loved me, and remind me that she believed I would recover one day. She never stopped believing, even at the times I had stopped believing in myself.
In 2013, I finally entered recovery again (like over the 12th time) I met my wife, and shortly after, we found out we were expecting our first child, and at the same time, my grandmother was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer and given just two weeks to live.
Normally, you don't tell people about a pregnancy that early. But we knew she was dying, so we told her she was going to be a great-grandmother.
It was one of the most emotional conversations of my life.
She had tears in her eyes when she said, "I can't wait to meet my great-grandchild."
I laughed and said, "Grandma, I'm not very good at math, but that doesn't add up. They gave you two weeks." She squeezed my hand and said, "I'm going to stay."
And somehow, she did.
For the next nine months, my wife and I visited her every day in palliative care. We'd drink black coffee, watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, and spend every moment we could together.
She fought through unimaginable pain.
Long enough to meet her great-grandson, and long enough to spend nine precious months with her sober grandson.
Before she passed away, she told me something I'll never forget:
"I always knew you'd figure it out."
My grandmother didn't save my life with tough love, she saved it with love.
The kind of love that never gives up on people.
The kind of love that believes in someone until they can believe in themselves.
Sometimes, that's what recovery starts with!
@HiveMindNode@OunkaOnX I don't disagree with your assessment of the CIA in the past but I do think they are over their head against Isreal and all who fund Isreal.