After many years without a steady job my wife and I hit the bottom, welfare. We had no money or possessions and got around in $100 car with that was a bucket of rust. My wife finally wised up and left me but the con in me handled that easily with a... "ok I'll quit drinking and no more drugs." Well I actually did quit for a year and started to work in our rented apartment refinishing furniture. We actually started to make enough money so they took away our welfare but gave us food stamps and 6 months later we were on our own. Knowing I quit for a year was proof I didn't have a problem (patience) I conned my way back to just a few drinks on Saturdays, of course it only took only a couple of months before it was the same old thing. To shorten this story we repeated the same scenario over again and I quit for a couple of years this time before I started all over again.

My wife is a Christian and decided that she would try one more time. This time she told the Lord He will have to make something happen because this is her final try... intervention was her course of action. She packed her bags and had them in the car as she drove into the hospital for the intervention. She was positive I would reject any help and knew she had to start her life over. It started with a phone call to our store. The hospital called and told me that our daughter had a slight injury. I would have to pick her up at the hospital. I walked in and they said you can get her in room A, as I approached the door I was greeted in the hallway and a doctor said my daughter is ok but some people want to talk to me. When I walked in I knew it was trouble, the table looked a city block long and their was my lawyer, partner, sister, brother in law, wife and 2 kids. I was real scared and thought about running out but the con in me said you can get out of this Ray just play along. My sister started, my wife, then my daughter got to me a little, at that point my 4 year old son yelled out , when do I get my turn; he spoke," when are you going to quit doing drugs and be my dad!" I still have a hard time believing those words came out of a 4 year old. Well that was to much for me to take and I broke down and cried like a little baby. It was a very sad moment in my life and I shocked everyone by agreeing to go into rehab. It didn't really sink in till 3 days later in the middle of the night. I began to review my life and came to realize the things I have done and the way I lived my life was not normal. BINGO... the light finally went on, I am a drug addict and a drunk! For the first time in my life I knew something was wrong . I wasn't normal, how could I be living and doing the crazy things that consumed my life.

I thought I was real cool...

but was really a BIG fool.