Drug Addiction Stories & Info

As she stood there in her wedding dress, I smiled. My daughter was beautiful. Still, I knew this special occasion would have a touch of sadness about it as her dad would not be there to walk her down the aisle. He had died several years earlier while she was still a teen. He had fallen ill one day and while at the doctor, we found out he had severe liver damage. He had been a drinker since the age of 12 and it had caught up with him. At the age of 37, my husband died.

Dana was cautious about drinking. She would not go with her friends unless they promised not to have alcohol. I knew that she could have just as easily gone the other way as many kids take up the very thing that takes control of their parents. Still, there are many who, while learning a painful lesson, use it to enhance other areas of their own lives. Dana was one of those young people.

I stepped forward. “Dana, sweetie, this is for you.” I handed her a locket and she looked inside. A picture of her father was in it. Just because someone lets drugs or alcohol take over their lives does not mean they don’t have loved ones and my husband was dearly loved. Dana hugged me as the tears fell between us. “Thanks, Mom, now Daddy can walk with me down the aisle.”

I know my husband did not set out to purposely hurt our family. He was an alcoholic when I met him although I did not realize how bad it was. Back then, it was simply partying to us. But his drinking got worse and worse and when he lost his job at the plant, he began drinking around the clock. He was never a mean drunk, but he did get depressed during that time. Still, when he got the diagnosis, he never acted like he was a victim and left letters for our two children and me. Dana’s brother would be walking her down the aisle in their father’s place. Like her, he has steered clear of drinking as well.

Dana had read the letter from her father the night before, one he had requested be opened when she got married. He was the one who had requested the locket be given to her for this day. I know he would have given anything to be here and that he would be proud that his beautiful daughter and handsome son had stayed away from the very thing that had killed him, alcohol.

“We did good” I whispered to my husband as the music started and one of the groomsmen led me down the aisle to sit at the front as the mother of the bride. “We really did good.”

I remember our wedding day like it was yesterday. We had hopes and dreams and were madly in love. The wedding was small, but the reception was huge. If nothing else, I can look back on that day with fond memories. It’s a good thing because shortly after that, our lives and our goal headed down hill.

For me, the drug use started when I had our first and only child. I had to have a C Section, there were some problems and the baby didn’t make it. They gave me Oxycontin for pain. After a couple of weeks, I figured out that the drug did just as much for easing my mental pain as it did my physical pain. When I woke up, the first thing I did was grab some Oxycontin. It would only be a couple of hours later and I would be taking more. Eventually, the number of pills I took began to increase. When my own doctor stopped supplying them, I went to another doctor and complained of pain in my back. It worked, I got more drugs.

My husband got so depressed that he started drinking. At first, he just had one after work but then he started to drink more. What a pair we were! To be honest, at times it was hilarious, but most of the time we would end up arguing. Home just wasn’t a happy place to be. My husband wanted us to have another baby and that just brought back all of the memories. I increased the number of pills yet again. The more drugs I did, it seemed the more alcohol my husband drank.

One night my Mother-in-law brought him home. He was hammered. She said she found him at the baby’s gravesite. Funny, he always seemed to be upset about me, but not the baby. She came back the next night, sat us down and reminded us of that happy couple on our wedding day. She asked if the drinking and the drugs had made us any happier. We both started crying. She told us she had lost a grand child and wasn’t about to lose a son and a daughter in law. Using our phone, she started calling rehabilitation centers. My husband and I both started rehab the next day. That was a year ago and although I did relapse once, I went right back into rehab. Now? We’re finally talking about having another child.