I started drinking and using drugs the summer between the 7th and 8th grade.  It started off as recreational and as a way to 'fit in'.  It quickly become a daily habit and seemed to be part of my identity.  I quickly begin selling drugs to support my habit and started suffering consequences from my actions.  I have tried a variety of ways to control and enjoy my drinking and drugging.  I enlisted in the military to get new surroundings. I quickly realized I took the problem with me.  After being discharged for positive drug test, I returned home and quickly found myself in trouble with the law.  I was arrested twice in a two week period for two DUIs and several felony drug and gun charges.  I was sentenced to two years.  After serving about a year, I was released and returned to Kentucky and within a short time was arrested again for drug trafficking.  I did a year in prison and made my first attempt at sobriety.  This was somewhat short lived. I struggled off and on over the next 8-10 years to stay sober and stay out of jail.  A brief period around the age 30, I maintained almost a year of sobriety through a 12 step program.  Because of not staying active in recovery, I relapsed again.  The next 5 years were very dark and insane.  I lived on the run from charges across the country.  Once I was finally caught, I had managed to rack up over a dozen felonies in three different states.  Alot of this is a blur due to chronic alcohol and crack cocaine use.  On April 27, 2005, I landed in another 12 step meeting.  That is my sobriety date.  During the past five years, I have been extremely blessed.  I decided about four years ago to turn the 2nd and 3rd floor of a building I owned into a place for men to come and stay if they wanted to try to get sober.  I formed a 501c3 and hung some flyers around the local club houses and detoxs.  As time passed, the word spread and we began to slowly grow.  The following year, I was able to open two more houses--one for men and one for women.  Through a series of events, we have been able to open a total of six houses with almost 90 beds.  Sober Living, Inc. has been a true blessing in my life and, I believe, has been able to help many people who just need somewhere safe so they could get their lives' back on track.  I just celebrated five years of continous sobriety and can't begin tell you how incredible my life has become.  I only hope I can give someone else hope in the fact that if they don't want to live the way they have been living, they don't have to.