Baby Boomers Get Clean and Sober

By LC Agnew

Way back in the day, after World War II, America was giving birth to the baby boomers, Government hadn't inserted itself into every area of our lives. Political correctness was unheard-of. Everybody smoked cigarettes for.25 cents per pack! You could buy a house for $10,000. Karen had been blessed by seeing what the USA was intended to be, one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all!

Karen was solid middle class. Her Dad went to work every day. That man was a machine! Karen could remember one day in the 18 years she lived with her parents that he didn't go to work. He had to feel like he was on death's door to make that call, that he wouldn't be coming in today.

Mom stayed at home and took care of Karen and her two brothers, John and Paul. What was called a housewife, what, she is married to the house? She was a homemaker and excelled at her job. Her cooking was to die for! That is where Karen got her talent for cooking, with Mom coaching her and passing down her recipes.

Life was good and simple. After graduating from high school, Karen refused her Dad's offer of college, and moved out to be on her own. Freedom from her OCD parents! She swore she would never have any regrets. If she lived to be 90, she would be sitting in her rocking chair on her front porch, smoking a joint!

Ever heard of the school of hard knocks? She attended and garnered honors! She started on her journey. Fitting in was something she excelled at. She was like a Chameleon, a lizard that changes colors to blend in with its surroundings. From L.A. to London, back to L.A., up to San Mateo, then to the City, (San Francisco), ending up in a small tourist beach town, seventy miles south of the City. She had arrived! Karen made a lot of friends there, and she felt these were her family for life. She lived in Santa Cruz for 19 years. Her whole philosophy on life was to have fun each day, which meant to party. She had basic office skills, so she could get a job to pay the rent and bills, though the first place the check went was to pay for her Friday night to Sunday morning party every weekend.

By now, she was living in Hawaii with her boyfriend, Michael, to avoid paying for criminal acts they had committed to pay for their drug habit in Santa Cruz. He said "lets go to Hawaii" and she said OK. They had come to get clean, but it wasn't until they were homeless and tired for a year, that they asked for help, and went to in-patient facilities.

Karen kept the party going for 28 years. The day she decided she couldn't live homeless anymore, waiting for her money to come on the 4th of next month, she contacted a woman who worked at the "needle exchange" to make some calls to the rehabs to find a place that would take her. The next day she was picked up by a man and a woman from the rehab center. On September 19, 1996. She felt like she was dying, full into the withdrawal symptoms of heroin. The Doctors and counselors diagnosed her with the disease of addiction. She was actually sick with a disease! She went to a party when she was 15 and came home when she was 43. Her life started over to find recovery, but also discovery, there was much about herself she didn't know she had.

Karen wanted to move to Hawaii when she was 17, hanging out on the beach with all the surfers. They went to Hawaii every winter to catch the North Swells. Beautiful, gigantic, and dangerous waves. Mother nature's show was dangerous! It had taken her 28 years to make the move. Looked like she had come full circle!

She was a living, breathing miracle. Most addicts and alcoholics didn't live through a 28-year run. God had blessed her with a second chance at life! She couldn't waste it! Once she left treatment, she moved into a transitional "clean and sober" house. Michael and her shared a room with a small twin bed to start. He had found work on the North Shore at a boatyard and took 4 buses every day with all his tools to get to work. She got up with the rest of the house, and went to her 7 a.m., AA meeting, held at Pokai Bay Beach Park. She had attended meetings in the rehab facility, but never an outside meeting. Meeting people and making friends. The home had rules and attending meetings at least once a day was one. She would go to another meeting at night with Michael after he came home from work.

Now, what could she do with her time between meetings? The court had ordered her to do community service for all the times she didn't show up for her court dates, and she was doing it a two-hour bus trip away from home. She requested to do it closer to home, and ended up working for a treatment facility on the west side of Oahu, doing yard work. Through a counselor of Michael' s, she found out she could volunteer at a local Health Care Center. She started out volunteering 16 hours a week, they put her in Payroll, where she found herself going more often, to get into some air conditioning because of the hot and muggy weather. The court found out she was volunteering at the Health Center, told her community service was finished, as she had fulfilled her hours, no more yard work! Not an altruistic motive, it filled her days, and she started applying for jobs in house. Thus started her career in Healthcare! Her hire date was February 1998 as a medical receptionist. An addict, working around Doctors and drugs, oh my!

Hawaii was nothing like the rest of the lower 48 states! The culture, the way the locals all spoke "pidgin" English. Local words that were used rather than proper English words was growing on her. She never kept in touch with anybody from her Santa Cruz "family" the chameleon was blending in with the surroundings. Traditions, myths, superstitions and chicken skin stories were fascinating! Chicken skin is scary stories that give you goose bumps! The locals were friendly and soon Michael and Karen won the respect of their friends and associates, started living the Hawaiian Style life. Karen had lived different "lives" with her chameleon abilities. She kept in touch with her family on the Mainland but not with any friends. Memories were locked in time, and no one got older or passed away. A time capsule of a part of that life.

Michael was living the dream as a surfer, a long day working at his boat business, he could go home, put on his surf shorts, grab his board and cross the street to surf! He told Karen, after a surfing session that relieved him of the stress of that day's work, that "wow, I am living the dream right now!" Life was so good, and they were so blessed and happy, after the hell they had put themselves through. Karen started the morning on her back porch looking up at the mountain and the goats, like National Geographic on TV! Her work place was right below the mountain and the goats. She went to beach with Michael, and she learned how to "boogie board,"after she paid her beginner dues! You do not want to end up in the beach break, and get dragged up the sand face down! The ocean was their back yard, and going across the street together, bobbing around in the water when there were no waves, was a wonderful way to end the work day and wash the stress away. All this was without drinking or drugging, so they were living proof that life can be lived on main street, not the corner of the street in the shadows, waiting for your next fix.

They had done what they wanted to do and had a new life to live. Their life became full with dogs, cats and friends. Michael played music with a local band and some studio work. They were happy and clean and sober! They did it together and beat the odds.

This is a true story. They did it and so can you!

I am a writer that is looking for paying jobs online to supplement my Social Security. You can hire me by sending an e-mail to  lsorens@gmail.com with I Want To Hire You in the subject box. Once we get in touch, we can discuss what kind of job you need and what the cost will be. Thank you for reading!