A RECOVERY STORY

My name is Gigi and this is my story of my journey of addiction to rec

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My name is Gigi and this is my story of my journey of addiction to rec.

I was born and raised in Bradenton Fl

I was married and had 2 small children and divorced by the age of 22-23 years old.

In 2004 I met my husband of today who is from Acworth, Ga  in Bradenton . I made a choice to move back to Acworth  with him. When choosing to do so I choose to let my children from my first marriage stay in Fl with there dad. I lacked 6m EMT Paramedic One. After making the move to Acworth in 2004 i was introduced to Methamphetamines. From 2004 to 2016 my husband and I used. When i say use i mean there was not a day that went by that we did not smoke the drug. My husband is a roofer and worked everyday, summer, winter, rain or shine. And making good money we never hurt for anything. In 2006 we had a son and then another son in 2008.

 Up till the year of 2012 we lived with my husband today and  his mom  on and off till she passed away, so really didn’t have much in bills. And really no worries as she took care of pretty much everything. So the money he made went on our addiction.2012 not only did we lose his mom but that was also the year my oldest child being a girl stopped talking to me. Not only did I have a daughter from my first marriage but also had a son. Do to the fact of addiction by this time i was also smoking pot and when she and he was at my house for a visit she seen my pot on my bed. So now with his mom passing away our safety net of what we knew was no longer there. But yet our addiction was. His mom did leave us the house and her Cadillac and some money. The only positive thing we did was remodel the house with the money she left.At this time both our young boys are both in elementary school and despite our addiction they both carried honor roll and perfect attendance. And played sports outside of school. In the year of 2012 life became real with addiction and no safety net of what we knew.

2013 my husband started selling drugs so we could continue the use of them. When he started selling drugs it was him and his best friend it wasn’t until November 2016 the selling of drugs come to a stop when the Sheriff’s Office kicked in my door at 5:58 a.m.

In Nov 2016 when the Sheriff’s office kicked in my door it was due to a friend of my husbands  that he has known from the age of 14. That morning in Nov  the officers let me get my 2 boys ready for school and they also took them to school that morning because they missed the bus. After arriving at the jail and being booked in they allowed my husband to call his dad to get the boys from school that day. My 15th day in jail I was served papers from Bartow County Defacts. The papers that were served were papers saying  for me and my husband to appear in court about my boys. The court date was in Jan 2017. We managed to get out of jail right before the court date.

Jan 2017 we appear in the Bartow County Courthouse about our 2 young boys. It was that morning that ours boys were removed from us and placed in foster care with my husbands dad.That hole year we were in and out of the courts over our boys . Due to addictions we were still using. We couldn’t break the addiction . Although going to court we were passing the urine test “of course not with our urin and that’s why we would fail the hair test. And this went on for the year of 2017. Jan 2018 the judge of Bartow County Juvenile Court looked at us and said I give you no options. He said to us I order you both to rehab.

Jan 2018 after that court hearing we come home tripping. What are we going to do .!!! We have no money, no help from anybody or any where, how are suppose to get in to rehab? I called rehab after rehab I am told 1200.00 for most of them I called  just to get in . So I call the addiction hotline they too were no help . I come across a program called One Step at a Time Recovery I call them I speak to them and yes finally I program that was out to help.! I was asked when the last time I used was soI told them right before I called you guys. So they say to me honey you have to be 2 days clean  and 200.00 entry fee and we have a bed open so give us a call back in 48 hours. I hang up the phone and I am excited I tell my husband “IT’S ONLY 200.00 TO GET IN and 48 HOURS CLEAN.!!!” but still being an addict I wasn’t just ready yet and still had to get my 200.00. So a week goes by I break down and call my hero being my daddy and I break down and I am crying and I am like daddy I need and want to go to a drug program I heard the sound of relief in his voice. I say but I need help it is 200.00 to get in and I have that but I need food and stuff he says to me get your ass in the program and I will send you money for your food. I said ok I love you daddy and I am going I will call when I get there.  Still being an addict and having addiction thoughts  I was like ok I know meth stays in your system 7 days or longer , so I am getting high before I go because they wont know even a drug test I would still fail at this point. And now we our in day Feb 24th 2018.

Feb 24th 2018 my husband and I are smoking meth and I just get up and start packing, he says to me “what are you doing”? I responded with going to rehab . So he sells his last bit of dope to make sure I have all the money I need to go get in with. And still at this point he didn’t know how for real I was. Hell I didn’t know how for real I was. 9 p.m on Feb 24th I am loading my car he kisses me and tells me we can do this you will be alright. I get in my car and i just start to drive following gps directions to One Step at a Time Recovery. I am tripping in side I keep telling myself I can do this I have to do this for me so I can do this for my boys. And let me mention I am sobbing the hole ride by myself. And hoping by the time I got there they would be closed.  But see when i called them at 9 p.m on Feb 24th 2019 there last words to me were we will be here waiting honey come on.! And by  God they did just that waited for me to get there.! I pulled up and there stood a gentleman I said is this the rehab he says yes it is are you Gigi? I pulled in and said yes he says to me welcome my name is Norman . I get out of my car tripping not because I was drunk but because i was that tore up in side. Norman says i have to give you a breathalyzer I laughed and said ok but drinking is not my thing.He says that’s fine we do this to anyone coming in to the program. So I finish the breath test and he says go see the lady at that desk she’s going to help you from here. I am still crying uncontrollably she says to me honey it’s going to be ok your in the right place to get what you need. I say please please help me i am broken I need help.  Rosemary then says well honey it’s going to take your hard work with the tools we  will give you. Most of all its going to take an open mind with the willingness with hope and faith. I said ok I can do that . She says to me ok lets do it. She signs me in and then tells me now Gigi the first 30 days you will need to be in by 6 p.m. and come to the office and sign the sheet stating that you are here by 6 every night for the first 30 days . We will give you random drug test and you will ride the van to the meetings and go to your house meeting everytime there is one. Me being ready to start this journey agreed not releasing the work this was all going to take . It didn’t sit until that night I layed in my bed by myself crying myself to sleep.That night I facetimed my husband freaking out.”How am i how are we going to do this .?” He says to me calm down Gigi we got this. And he was right and so was Rosemary.!  Knowing my husband needed to be in a program  4 days later I bring him also to One Step at a Time Recovery and do so knowing that they didn’t take couples. But my husband stands in the parking lot and says goodnight baby and we go our separate ways him to his apartment and me i go to mine . With in 24 hours we are being questioned are you 2 a couple.? WE answered honestly and then begged them please we need this we promise we won’t let you down .The director prayed about it that night and come to us and said God said to give you guys a chance but I am telling you both you break the rules you both are gone we said yes ma’am and  we promise you will have no trouble from us. So we did just that we were worried at first and not worried about giving any problems but how we were going to juggle what we had to juggle. Ten days in the program I got a call from my brothers cell phone I answered and it was my mom, remember i haven’t spoke or see my mom scene 2004. That was the best call ever at the end of our talk she tells me she has bone cancer again I lost it went to the director of the program and told her I know right now I am not supposed to hanging out with Randy being my husband today but I Need him she could see something wrong and she asked me what is it honey, so I told her and thank you God she sends for him again he tells me Gigi everything is going to be ok has he is holding me as i cry. So we kept an open mind with our readiness and willingness to do whatever we had to do . The next thing we knew we were phasing up whoop whoop. That just gave us the push we needed to keep our heads up . Me and my husband every night on our way home would give each other knockels meaning another day down. We didn’t even realize in the first 30 days we have done hit meetings every night we went to our apartment meetings went to work every day and made our visitation every weekend with our boys. We phased up and I can remember going back to Rosemary and all excited like look we phased up she said to me see it is yals hard work with your readiness willingness with hope to keep the faith with the tools we give yal. And she says to me honey do you see how much better you look .? I laughed better i said … I said looking like a fat ass we laughed together. Next thing we know with the tools we were given and our hard work we were going back to court for unsupervised visitation . We couldn’t believe it .We were then sober for about 3m passing urine test with  our own urine . lol. We were balancing work, meetings and I am talking about like 90 meetings in 75 days  visations and going for now unsupervised visitations meaning the boys would be able to come home for the weekends. Randy and I were like home…we are in a program. So the judge ok the boys to come up to the program on the weekends as long as it was ok with the program.So again we go to the director and we are were like Mrs Annette we are aloud to bring the boys home for the weekends but we looked at each other in the courtroom and was like home…we are in a program but the judge ok for the boys to come up here if it was ok with yal. And I will never forget sitting at Mrs.Annette’s desk waiting for her reply……She says to us well this is your home at the moment correct me and Randy said yes ma’am she says ok then the boys are welcomed here to.! Only thing is they will have to sleepover with dad because they are boys. We were overwhelmed  with so many different emotions. Randy and I were like look at us doing all this sober we would say to each other not missing a night another one down giving knucks and we would say to each other our saying we can do this thanks to One Step giving us the tools and chance with our hard work anything is possible. Before we knew it we again we’re back in the courtroom this time gaining the custody back of our 2 boys what ment we were graduating from the One Step at a Time Recovery Program. Randy and I cried that day this time it wasnt tears of fear it was tears of joy.

Aug 2018 not only did we gain custody of our 2 young boys back but we graduated from One Step at a Time Recovery.!With the program giving us the chance we needed with our readiness willingness with an open mind and having hope to keep the faith we did it.

And today Feb 13th 12 days away from our year birthday of being clean we owe to our HIGHER BROTHER and One Step at a Time.! we will forever carry the up most respect to that program and the people that work in the program for helping us build a sober life living for.

I hope you have enjoyed my story from addiction to living in RECOVERY as much as i enjoy walking it. My battle is never over it’s a fight we fight everyday and will  for the rest of our lives but as long as we know this and keep our tools at hand and work what One Step at a Time Recovery has taught us we have nothing to fear.!

A few things we have gained today

1: our lives and our boys back home

2: a relationship with our higher power to our understanding

3: I now have a relationship with my mom

4: I now am building a relationship with my daughter slowly but it’s happening and thank you God my oldest son has never left my side through this journey.

5:we have a granddaughter 7m old that we our a part of her life.

6:My daddy’s little girl even though I am grown is back.

Randy and I got married on 1-23-19

My list can keep going  and that’s why we will always hold the utmost respect for One Step at a Time Recovery

And let me say I also got to witness my best friend as well fight through addiction and I Am grateful that I was getting sober to be able to be part of her sober life too.

TWO GRATEFUL RECOVERING ADDICTS  Randy and Gigi

This story was written by the recovering addict herself Gigi  Feb 13th,2019