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Our Stories
Darrell William
Missouri
My son is five years old. A couple months ago, some friends were over and we were having a picnic and I had a pop can in my hand. I'm a pretty large guy, so my hand completely covered the can. One of my friends said to my son: "Look, your dad has a beer in his hand." And my five year old said: "No my dad doesn't drink; he teaches people not to."
I read somewhere that if you ever want to know what kind of parent you are, listen to your kids describe you to their best friend. That really hit home when Kyle said that. Not even trying, just being there, is making a humongous impact. The same way my father made an impact on me, I'm making an impact on him. We're just doing it in a different way.
As a little kid I actually dreamed of being like my fatehr, sitting in the bar and talking to the buddies and having a drink. My father owned and operated a semi so he was home maybe three or four days a month until I was about 12 years old, and when he was in, he was always at the bar. When I turned 16, I was the sober driver for my father. One day he said, "Here, have a drink." That's how it started but I took it way to the extreme.
I've had three car crashes and by the grace of God, I never ran into anybody. They were so late at night I just ran off the road and wrecked myself. I got four DUIs in the course of about four years. The end result was a Class B felony in the state of Missouri that resulted in a five-year prison sentence. They sent me to prison.
The lawyer worked out a deal to get me into treatment in the department of corrections. I was there for 82 days and was released to probation. In May 2001 I completed college; I earned my bachelor's degree. I was able to buy a house through a friend of mine in recovery. He actually sold me the house and helped me with that. Then in January of this year, 2002, I completed probation.
Now I'm in a masters program in clinical psychology, and things are unbelievable. I can't even tell you how I got here or how this is happening. Coming from a scared, shamed, beat down little boy to just a flourishing young adult and all because of recovery.
Since I've been in recovery and since the negative consequences have happened, my father and my two uncles who have all had issues with alcohol have not touched a drop. They don't drink and their life has also changed.
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