Hi everyone...I know it's been awhile since my last post about meeting one of my new-found birth sisters. While I AM going to provide an update, it'll be under a separate post. The purpose of this one is about something else entirely. It's self-explanatory and I just wanted to let those of you struggling with an addiction know things CAN and DO change for the better...
Below, is a copy of my email that I sent on May 31st:
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Subject: A heart-felt "thank you" from a drunk driver you arrested in 2007
Hi,
Hmmm, where to even begin...
You most likely will not remember me from that May 5th, 2007 evening. I was the one you and two others arrested, who's pants kept falling down only to show I didn't have anything on underneath. It happened once on the roadside as cars went by and as soon as I stepped out of the cruiser downtown. I cannot tell you how shameful those moments felt and feel even now as I remember them.
I will never forget how it felt to have you put those handcuffs on me that night. I cannot tell you how it felt to be put into the back of your police cruiser and I certainly can't tell you how it made me feel to hear that cell door slam shut behind me!!!
It has been a VERY eventful seven years since I was arrested and lost my license. But, I am VERY happy to report that I'm going on my 6th year of sobriety....6:00 pm December 18th, to be exact! On that day in 2008, I had just arrived home from my appointment with my addictions counsellor with a 1.5 litre bottle of wine stuck in the sack of my electric bike. You see, I still didn't think I had a drinking problem...even after losing my license or spending a night in the detox centre later in May 2007 or destroying my newly built home by flooding it on Canada Day in 2008!
When I got home that December evening, I fully intended on drinking that entire bottle all by myself - but I couldn't. I simply couldn't keep doing that to myself, at least not without killing either myself or someone else.
I just last night (May 30th) found the copy of the police report that was given to me. It made for quite the interesting read (for me anyway). It brought back sssssooooo many memories. Mostly bad ones. But, do you know the one that sticks out the most for me? One that's NOT in the report. My fondest memory of that most god-awful night is of you reaching through those cell door bars and shaking my hand and saying "this is NOT the end of the world. Things WILL get better". I simply cannot tell you how much that meant to me. I have thought of that moment often throughout the last seven years and have wanted to reach out to you many, many times to tell you that. Now is the time.
Thank you, for EVERYTHING you did that night. Your compassion as a police officer did not go unnoticed, even in the state I was in. You and everyone else involved (including the witness) did me a HUGE favour that night, one I will never, ever forget and I just wanted to tell you that.
I would love if we could meet sometime for a coffee, if that is allowed. But, if not, I just wanted to convey my sincerest "thanks". You helped me in ways you'll never know.
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The police officer's response on June 2nd:
Thank you very much. I am happy to hear that you are doing well, and that you found that bad experience, a reason to push forward, and to get what you needed to make your life different. I do remember that night, like it was yesterday. Hard to say, but you were a mess that night. Needless to say, I did not think of you in such a way, simply because I know that we all have bad days. That one may have been the one for you.
I am happy you found it to be a good reason for me not to meet you the same way. I changed a life, and maybe even saved one. Thank you very much for your warm words.
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