Im Brandon Green I'm 17. I was born and raised in Houston Texas except for the one year I lived in Dallas. My dad was never really around when I was growing up he was in prison for a violation of parole for the last time he was in prison. My mom was a coke dealer when I was little and would have like parties all the time. I never understood what she was doing or why she did things that she did. I got older and when I was 12 I was a lonely kid I had no friends because we moved all the time because my mom couldn’t live a stable life. I met this girl Ally she was a senior in HS. She was so cool she smoked cigarettes and had sex. I wanted to befriend her and so I did. She started my weed smoking and taught me various sexual activities. She was really the only friend I had in the 6th grade. She moved and I was left alone in between 7th grade my dad showed up out of nowhere. Of course like a loyal puppy dog I was just happy to see my dad. I remember seeing his face and being so thrilled. For the next 6 months we were inseparable. We went everywhere together. And I thought for once my dad was back and here to stay. My dad has always smoked weed and he always will. It was something I have coped with, and when I saw him go from smoking weed to shooting smack my vision that everything was going to be normal slowly changed. My dad was gone, and he would take me to 3rd and 5th ward to score smack. I remember being left in the car and being so scared. I remember watching my dad chug tequila because he couldn’t sleep since he was all strung out. I’ve watched him push off, I’ve seen him do some crazy stuff to get his drugs. After all was done he ended up going back to jail and I didn’t hear from him for the next year or two. After seeing him like that I decided to stay sober and not smoke weed. That lasted for a while but then I picked up where I left off at. I started smoking weed everyday and started taking bars and drinking a lot. In 9th grade I was introduced to coricidin cough and cold a drug that I could afford since I stole them and one that made all the awkwardness in life go away. Suddenly I could talk to any girl I wanted, was the funniest most popular guy around. Which got me kicked out of my mom’s house and moved into my aunts house where I eventually got kicked out too for drugs. When I got kicked out they told me I was going to go to Dallas with my mom. I said no not me and I took off. I stayed with girls and lived it up smoked tripped had sex, life was great. I went to stay with a friend Alex and we got really drunk one night and decided to break into some cars. The first one we did was open and we took her purse radio and cd’s when we looked in the purse it was filled with checks from her graduation and her id. I had the great idea to cash them in which they didn’t work and they were useless. After that night we decided to do it again. Alex did it sober but I needed to get that feeling before I did anything. Long story short we got caught and I went to jail for the first time. I was in there for 2 weeks no one claimed the stolen property so I got off. I went to Dallas and fit in fine. I was still partying and one night I took my moms car and got drunk and picked up some friends. Of course I got pulled over and was taken home except this time I was being charged, I was charged with a DWI and no licence my tickets were around $1500. My mom kicked me out and I was on the street. I slept where I could at parks and people’s houses wherever. I was dating this girl who’s mom was prescribed to bars and no one from this small town really knew what they were. So I started selling them. I got paid and money started to stack pretty quick. I got caught of course and I went to jail and was now on probation. I continued to use despite being on papers. I Went to Houston for a weekend after school got out. I went to a party got drunk passed out and woke up in a back yard with a man’s boot on my face and a gun aimed at me. He fired the gun inches away from my face and kept telling me I broke into his shed. Cops came and I was charged with a state jail felony where I spent 3 months in jail and was placed on felony probation. I was living with my aunt again. At that point I needed to stay sober to live. I was not successful and the second day out of jail I popped 8 Valium and hopped on a horse that kicked me off and I broke my femur bone. I was laid up in the hospital for another month. I was put on Vicodin which got me slowly back to old ways. I started drinking as soon as I ran out of pills. I got a job at Krogers and worked went to school but I was drunk all the time. My girlfriend at the time asked me to stop drinking but I didn’t. I went to school on finals and passed out after drinking a water bottle full of vodka I had been drinking it for a week straight. I go kicked out of my aunts again. I had to go live with my dad and some girl he was living with. My probation officer sent me to Riverside general Hospital and I was going to be there for 2 months. My time there was pointless and I snorted bars popped XO’s and didn’t do nothing but have fun and wait my time. I got out and despite getting high in there I thought I would try and stay sober for real this time. When my dad picked me up he lit up a joint and I knew me staying sober wasn’t going to work out.

I started school at Katy High my 6th High School. It didn't take long for me to get back to my old ways and I started to steal my dads weed. Pretty soon I met a guy and he was a Ice dealer. I bought a 20 and I remember the first snort... it burned it hurt but I felt so good I wanted to always feel like this. I started doing clear all the time and I quit snorting it and started smoking it.I mainlined a couple of times as well. My dad found my ice pipe and I was caught I went to my PO and tested OK because I took a cleaner. I decided doing clear was taking over my life I couldn't sleep and I was looking pretty bad.So that same dealer said well hey try coke. I said well it can't hurt to try it. I bought half a gram and I did it all that night. Now I was obsessed with coke. I could sleep and still function OK. I started spending all my money on it and constantly had coke in my pocket everywhere I went. I was at school all coked out and my dad picked me up and took me to my PO I was high and I was going to get drug tested and I was going to fail. I failed of course and I was about to go to TYC and I was scared, not to scared because I kept doing it I kept buying it and I couldn't stop even though I wanted to and I had too.My PO said I was going to the Odyssey House and I was going to be there for a long time.Time to party came to my head and I drank smoked snorted harder than I ever had before.When it was time to come to treatment I had no intentions of really getting sober but planned to fake it. I came in and didn't do anything I just wasted the time I was here. I got encountered left and right for playing around too much and for spending too much time with the females. I hated getting called out on my stuff. I got into a relationship with America and we passed notes and when we got caught she left and I stayed for a freeze and ended up on 5ft for like a month and a half. When I got off it I started to act on my feelings that were always there since riverside. I told Katie how I felt about her even though she claimed she was a lesbian. She had nothing to say after I told her but in a few days she said she felt the same way. We fell in love and we wrote to each other through a floppy disk on the computer. We planned to leave so we could be together and show our love for each other. We left and right when I walked out of the gate I knew I made a mistake. We didn't end up living with each other, we hardly talk on the phone due to her parents and its all a bad decision. A part of me will always have feeling for her but I need to worry about myself right now. While I was out I’ve had the hardest time in my life trying to stay sober and resist getting high. I’ve been staying where I can because I didn't have anywhere to go.Ive been around Alcholol and drugs and it was hard but I resisted and stayed clean. I need the Odyssey House more than I ever thought I did. I plan on coming in and doing something different and takign suggestions. I need this to survive and I plan on making it. Im Brandon Im an alchololic and a drug addict...

As long as it's the unvarnished truth, Brandon, it's a fine story for the purpose I sense you intend for it.
Its not about being good, its about being real.

Also cultivate the HOW of recovery too, if I may add some advice... (gawd, the first time someone said this to me my little ears pricked up because I heard Tao, not How, and thought I was going to get let in on some great mystical eastern notion LOL)

H onest
O penminded
W illing

I hope for your sake, from one who knows, that you get "it". Good luck.