What have I gotten away with? At first, all I could recall was underage drinking, although not a lot of it. But then I thought about it some more, and as I continued to think about it, everything got bigger and bigger.
Reckless driving? Yes. A lot. Marijuana? Yes. Damage to property? Yes. (I drove the getaway car when my friends sawed down the local truck-stop sign.) Did I drink and drive? Well, yes. I don’t think I can come up with exactly how many times, but I’d say somewhere around ten.
Kids do stupid things, and I was no exception.
I come from a poor family, where expectations of me weren’t that high. Had I been put in the juvenile system at any point, I may have decided not to have high expectations of myself.
Perhaps most frightening, though, was something that happened the year after I became a licensed counselor. I had leftover Klonopin and a friend who had difficulty sleeping. I brought the pills over to her house in a little baggie – not even considering that it might be illegal.
I can’t imagine I’d be where I’m at now if I had been caught. I don’t think I’d be here, with this job, with these beautiful daughters, with this beautiful life.