David B.
It was December 25, 2006, Meridian, MS; I hesitantly accepted a dinner invitation to my parents’ house. I lived less than 5 miles from my parents but rarely spoke much less visited them. I was an extreme alcoholic that had been sneaking into their house for years stealing alcohol and any loose change I can find; and they knew it! They once even had me committed to the state mental institute in 2006 which I managed to avoid thanks to a backed up state system and some strategic manipulation on my part. However, it was that Christmas night that my father brought up Bridge House for the second time.
This time, for the first time in my life, I had no excuse or rationalization to fight my father’s argument–If I continue on my present path will my life be any different in a year, so what then is the harm in spending that year at Bridge House? I decided he was right and the time was right. I was completely dead on the inside, and I realized it that Christmas night. I arrived at Ms. Green’s office, completely exhausted, on January 7, 2007 and transitioned on January 10, 2008. I cannot truly express all that Bridge House did for me in that year. My parents were astonished and my stepmother (of 20 years) was truly meeting me for the first time.
One of the greatest attributes Bridge House gave me, though, turned out to be an inability to enjoy drinking. I relapsed that same year in 2008 shortly after Gustav. If it was not for all that Bridge House had instilled in me, I would have died in my relapse, literally. I returned to Bridge House for a three month “tune-up”, if you will, and used the opportunity to make healthy decisions and changes in my life to hopefully avoid similar pitfalls.
Bridge House has now saved my life twice. It has saved my family twice. For the first time in my life I have a genuine relationship with my parents and established a relationship with my brother that has never existed. I truly believe it is the work of my higher power that brought me back to Bridge House for a third time–this time as a member of the staff. I now have been given the opportunity to work and give back to the very organization that saved my life. David B.