“My great-aunt and great-uncle raised me on a farm in Mississippi, and I’d say it was a very happy childhood. I did everything a kid on a farm did back in those days. Ran around outside. Drove a tractor. I remember when the cotton came in, I spent a lot of time waiting in line at the gin. After high school, I moved to Chicago and worked as an airline dispatcher. I had an apartment, a nice car, made good money, flew anywhere I wanted to go, and stayed in nice hotels. I was a country boy in the city, living in the fast lane. I had that job for 8 or 9 years, but then I started drinking and got to the point where I couldn’t --- or wouldn’t --- go to work.
“I’ve had other jobs in my life. I learned how to weld and worked my way up to journeyman welder-fitter. Worked in grocery stores a couple of different times. Went back to Mississippi and helped my great-uncle on the farm after my great-aunt died. But then some things happened, and I eventually ended up on the street with nowhere to go.
"I’m in stable housing now, but I remember my first night in an emergency shelter. It was rough. I’d never been anywhere like it. They provided showers and offered me clean clothes, but people were sleeping all over the place, on the floor and everywhere. It wasn't violent, but it was chaotic. You couldn’t lay anything down or somebody would take it. I got to move to a dormitory situation before too long because I was recovering from hip surgery and in chronic pain. That's where I am now. It's a nice place; it's good.
"I go to recovery meetings, and I haven’t had a drink since August. Not GONNA have a drink. If I had my life to do all over, I never would have picked up the bottle in the first place. I wish I could tell young people just starting out: Stay focused. Don’t fool with drugs. And listen. Listen. You don’t know everything.”
“I’ve had other jobs in my life. I learned how to weld and worked my way up to journeyman welder-fitter. Worked in grocery stores a couple of different times. Went back to Mississippi and helped my great-uncle on the farm after my great-aunt died. But then some things happened, and I eventually ended up on the street with nowhere to go.
"I’m in stable housing now, but I remember my first night in an emergency shelter. It was rough. I’d never been anywhere like it. They provided showers and offered me clean clothes, but people were sleeping all over the place, on the floor and everywhere. It wasn't violent, but it was chaotic. You couldn’t lay anything down or somebody would take it. I got to move to a dormitory situation before too long because I was recovering from hip surgery and in chronic pain. That's where I am now. It's a nice place; it's good.
"I go to recovery meetings, and I haven’t had a drink since August. Not GONNA have a drink. If I had my life to do all over, I never would have picked up the bottle in the first place. I wish I could tell young people just starting out: Stay focused. Don’t fool with drugs. And listen. Listen. You don’t know everything.”
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