Drug Addiction Stories & Info

This winter has been the craziest one snow wise that I can remember in 30 years. Still, it takes me back to being fifteen and stuck in a blizzard in Wyoming. Being from Texas, I was not used to such weather, our biggest weather enemy was a tornado, my county just weeks away from having the worst one in its history. Still, I remember that blizzard and being stranded in a hotel with my mom, aunt and younger brother. I remember the waitress at the restaurant in the hotel being so nice, not realizing back then that she must have been working for hours past her shift with the onset of a blizzard that allowed for no movable traffic.

I also remember the man that was going through asking people for money. The hotel was nice, not charging people for rooms that weren’t available and allowing everyone to have a dry, safe place to sleep even if it meant the lobbies were overflowing. Something about the young man had my mom and aunt being protective. When the young man asked me if I knew where to get some coke and I pointed to the vending machine, he got mad and called me retarded. My mama stepped in between us while my aunt went to the desk to ask for help.

Today, I know what he meant. He meant cocaine, something that was gaining in popularity at that time. Still, a country girl from Texas had not heard of it at that time. It was March, 1979, and what stands out most to this day now that I am a parent is that my mom and aunt were protective of me against a stranger.

Sometimes I wonder about that young man, like when I hear a story on the news or when I see my own children dealing with social issues with peers and every day life. I wonder if he had a mother as protective as mine was but somehow got hooked on cocaine anyway. I wonder if he had a rough childhood. I wonder if he is clean now, sometimes even if he is still alive.

I don’t know why that one short conversation stayed with me all these years. I only know that before that day I had no idea that coke was something other than a soft drink. I mark that as a moment in time where I lost a touch of innocence. To me, that was the day . It may not seem like a big deal to most people but I realize something. If that one question 30 years ago can stay with me, I have great empathy for someone who deals with peer pressure from close friends.