It's all been fun and I have only one regret, Dope ruined my first marriage and Debbie was a fine Vermont Girl. I have been either incredibly Blessed or perhaps Lucky (doubtful) to even be here right now.
Drugs may be the scenic route but the map can get quite complicated for stoners.
Yeah, it wrecked my dad, big-time. Beer and coke... Spin-dry, near divorce, the whole 9 yards. Wrecked our family pretty bad, but it made me wise, because I was already well down that very same trail.
My saving grace came in the form of an out-of-body experience. I come up out of myself, suddenly sober as a judge, floating over the campfire, looking at myself carrying on, surrounded by thieves and ne'er do wells... I heard God ask me if this is what I really want, and that He had other plans.
That very moment I started stepping away. And within 3 months or so, I was dried out and that, literally by the grace of God.
But I was still an in demand bouncer... And I saw all of what drugs and alcohol were doing to other folks, being altogether sober and wide awake to it.
Somewhere in there I had a relapse, got in a helluva fight and messed the other guys up real bad... But I knew one of them. He was an ancillary friend, and my family knew his family. So after the fact I went to pay my respects, and it broke my heart what I done to his family - All the grief and heartache I caused... I put that while family behind the eight ball... For a long while, that single act of mine wrecked em all as his bills to put him back together, and his long recovery strained them well beyond the breaking point... For years.
Don't get me wrong. He and his pals had it coming, and the sheriff called it self defense and all... But I had done the same thing more than a few times before - This time I seen it up close, and it broke my heart. So much for the good-ol-boys excuse.
Yeah, I have my regrets too.
Truth be told, that whole damn scene makes many regrets at the bare minimum.