Mike

There was no school for me. It was a place for me to go and hang around. My father committed suicide when I was 7 and me and my siblings heard it and found him on the floor. My mother was an alcoholic. She cared about me going to school in her own way, but I didn’t listen to her. After my father died, I was a hellion. When I was 10, I got locked up for truancy for two weeks. The place was right across the street from our apartment.

I could see the parties at my house from behind the fence. It was tough at home. There was rarely food because my mother spent any money on parties. Half the time I didn’t know where we’d be staying because we’d get evicted all the time. Wherever we lived, it was always in the slums.

I’d been drinking since I was 8. My older sister let me because I’d pass out and not be in her hair. My mother always had a string of guys around, and I didn’t want a new dad, so I’d act up and do whatever I could to make them not want to be around. It didn’t work.

I’d go to school here and there. There were always fights so half the time I wouldn’t get on the bus. My mother tried to punish me, but I wasn’t listening to her. I felt abandoned growing up. There was no lovey-dovey stuff, tucking in at night, or pats on the back. 

In 7th grade I got a job in landscaping. We were living in a tough area with the cops knocking down doors. It was easy to stop going to school, so I did. Nobody at the school tried to get me to go back. My mother was still partying and had rough boyfriends who’d chase me around trying to hurt me. I started drinking my pain away.

By the time I was 14 I was completely kicked out of my house because I wasn’t going to school. I was also drinking and smoking weed all the time. An old friend of my father’s was a mechanic. He said I could live in a Partridge Family school bus he had, as long as I didn’t have parties on it. He was also going to teach me to be a mechanic. That didn’t last very long. He busted me for having a party and then I was homeless. For the next 3 years I slept in basements, under benches, wherever.

When I was 18, I met a girl, and we had a daughter. By the time I was 19 we had another daughter. We got married and divorced 6 months later. I was working as a mason making decent money. I left my kids and didn’t even try for visitation. I buried myself in booze and drugs.

When I was 22, I started working for a roofing company. I worked there for 17 years. My boss sent me to school to learn about all types of roofing. I trained all the new employees. One day he fired me because he’d found cheaper labor.

In all that time I had never thought about finishing school. I learned trades like masonry, roofing, and others.

I worked for myself for 10 years. I was still partying. One other contractor I worked with was in a 12-step program. He recognized that I needed help and would get me to come to meetings. I tried to quit a few times, but it didn’t hold.

I was bouncing in and out of jails, detox and institutions. I had a second wife who quit drinking. I stopped for 6 months but started again. She divorced me. The only guarantee that I had was death. I finally decided enough was enough. I got tired of the rat-race and hurting people. The only way to stop was to but down the booze and drugs. I went to a bunch of meetings. I wasn’t perfect, but finally it stuck. Twelve years ago, I quit for good. I’d met people who had good stuff and did good things, and I wanted what they had.

My back has been messed up for years and I knew I needed surgery. I’d never be able to work in the trades again. I wanted to become an addiction counselor but didn’t even have a 7th grade education. The folks at HireAbility introduced me to CVAE.

It’s been awesome at CVAE. I have a great teacher who has worked well with my disability. There’s a lot I never learned because I never went to school. I go all in on everything. If I have a goal in mind, I’ll reach it with the help of people around me. My goal is to get my diploma, then become a certified Addiction Coach, and then go to college to be an Addiction Counselor. I want to work with others. People need help and I have experience that I can share. I donate my time to feeding the homeless one day a week.

At CVAE I learned that I wasn’t as smart as I thought I was. I have street smarts but not book smarts. I’m learning those book things and also learning that anything is possible.