Hey all, Ernesto here. As part of sharing of my own story of addiction and recovery, I will be running a weekly segment called Addiction Testimonials that will eventually lead up to my Recovery Testimonials. They will appear in chronological order and hopefully serve to reach others and help them in their struggles. For those interested in following the series, to the right side of the main page is a section titled “Addiction Testimonials” where all can be read. To anyone interested in this kind of story-telling, feel free to send anything you may want to share to my email ernestosthompson@gmail.com, and from there, we’ll figure out how to post it to your liking. Anyway, part two of my story is below. Click the following link to read Part I of Addiction Testimonials first.

Pt.2 of Addiction Testimonials: – Buried Signs of Addiction in a Child’s Mind

For obvious reasons, the first five years of my childhood remain vague in my mind. Nonetheless, accounts of these years in my home are still very present and animate in my older brother’s mind. With vivid detail, he describes shouting matches and brawls that often sparked between family members in our kitchen, after noticing that they were acting strange and had been drinking a lot. They would often show up late, or early in the morning, with sunglasses on and blank faces; most times, little was said between them.

He also recalls, the excessive partying, where dozens of people would gather to play loud music, drink and converse until the early hours of the morning. And although, I can still recall some of the details and situations, they pail in comparison with those of my older brother, who still distinctly remembers occurrences like the selling and use of cocaine and other drugs in my home even through the memories of a child three years my elder. I would say that it probably wasn’t until I had reached grade school that certain events really stuck out in my mind. One such event happened when I was about ten-years-old…

Hey all, Ernesto here. As part of sharing of my own story of addiction and recovery, I will be running a weekly segment called Addiction Testimonials that will eventually lead up to my Recovery Testimonials. They will appear in chronological order and hopefully serve to reach others and help them in their struggles. For those interested in following the series, to the right side of the main page is a section titled “Addiction Testimonials” where all can be read. To anyone interested in this kind of story-telling, feel free to send anything you may want to share to my email ernestosthompson@gmail.com, and from there, we’ll figure out how to post it to your liking. Anyway, part two of my story is below. Click the following link to read Part I of Addiction Testimonials first.

Pt.2 of Addiction Testimonials: – Buried Signs of Addiction in a Child’s Mind

For obvious reasons, the first five years of my childhood remain vague in my mind. Nonetheless, accounts of these years in my home are still very present and animate in my older brother’s mind. With vivid detail, he describes shouting matches and brawls that often sparked between family members in our kitchen, after noticing that they were acting strange and had been drinking a lot. They would often show up late, or early in the morning, with sunglasses on and blank faces; most times, little was said between them.

He also recalls, the excessive partying, where dozens of people would gather to play loud music, drink and converse until the early hours of the morning. And although, I can still recall some of the details and situations, they pail in comparison with those of my older brother, who still distinctly remembers occurrences like the selling and use of cocaine and other drugs in my home even through the memories of a child three years my elder. I would say that it probably wasn’t until I had reached grade school that certain events really stuck out in my mind. One such event happened when I was about ten-years-old…