T E X A R K A N A M A G A Z I N E
oblivious to the fact that I was in trouble. The only problem I could see was whether or not I would have enough to make it through the day.” Richard might have seen these red flags and rationalized them, but those around him also began to take notice. They could see the Richard they knew, with his larger-than-life personality, had now morphed into a full-blown “Broadway production.” When he added alcohol to the “cocktail,” he lost himself, displaying a complete lack of regard for everything and everyone around him. At 24, he woke up at CHRISTUS St. Michael Hospital after his first overdose. This event led him to his first local treatment center. He stayed for four days, but he believed he could stop the drugs with little trouble. After all, that was the real issue, wasn’t it? He convinced himself the alcohol was no big deal. So, he went straight from the treatment center to the bar. This lasted for about a year until he came face-to-face with his sister, Whitney. “In E-True Hollywood fashion,” he said, “this was to be the first of several ultimatums to address my addictions.” Whitney, standing tough in her love for Richard, expressed, “It’s treatment or out of my house.” Richard chose treatment, and this time he completed it. It was by now the winter of 2012, and the day he came home from treatment was the day he went right back into the bar. “Again,” he convinced himself, “alcohol was legal, so it most definitely could not pose a problem.” Despite years of multiple failed relationships, multiple run-ins with law enforcement, multiple rehabs, and multiple moments of harm to his friends, family and co-workers, Richard still lacked the ability to admit he had a problem. “I was a cyclone. I ripped through lives with no regard for anyone or anything other than my own selfish desires and habits. This is how self-centered I am capable of
being. I used everyone and offered nothing in return.” By May 2015, Richard found himself homeless, jobless and most of all helpless. “I lived at the precipice of death,” he continued, “and knew it all too well. Today, I can tell you at that juncture of my life, I made peace with the fact that I was an unfortunate soul, and this is how I would die. My family suffered the most, I think. They suffered things that they should have never had to endure. I sought to hurt them, and I succeeded. To this day, I maintain that the most awful thing I have said to anyone, I said to my mother—the lady who bore me. I live every day attempting to make that right, even though she says she has forgiven me.” Treatment centers did not work for keeping Richard sober, but they planted seeds for him that slowly grew over time and survived many more overdoses and trips to psychiatric facilities. Richard’s day of grace came August 11, 2015. “I was so broken, tattered and riddled with shame when I got sober. I literally had nothing but my life and a willingness to do something different.” That willingness from day to day eventually turned into months and then into years. Sobriety is now his friend. It led him to go back to school and in December 2020, he graduated with an Associate in Criminal Justice Degree with honors and became a first-generation graduate. He is currently a junior at Texas A&M University-Texarkana where he is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and was recently inducted into the National Honor Society for leadership and success. “Addictions are everywhere and in the form of everything. Sometimes it’s not as easy to spot as the person that we see wandering around vacuuming the concrete. Sometimes, it is the lady, dressed in business casual attire, sitting at a desk, carrying a designer
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