The last 19 months have been on the most challenging road that I have ever taken. For many years, I fought with alcoholism. That was an admission that I relentlessly rebuked. Over the years, I have engaged everyone, thinking, "what do they know?" or "who were they to tell me what to do?" For me, just admitting that I was an alcoholic was hard, but worse yet, was admitting that I was powerless over it. The humiliation of admitting defeat was devastating.

Early years of molestation, incest, and mental and emotional abuse set the stage for a play like Romeo and Juliet--a true love for alcohol that would only end in death. My drinking started at about the age of 15 and quickly escalated. The newfound freedom to escape reality was discovered. Establishing employment in the restaurant business allowed easy access to my new "friend."

Memories of high school, many of which are still lost in some bottle, were thrown by the wayside. Then came the military, which I thought was a great way to get away from home and "do what Chuck wants." I joined the Marines for all the wrong reasons. This only boosted an already misdirected ego to feel deserving of the drinking...after all, I was a Marine!

Soon, as usual, things crumbled and I found myself with consequences that, of course, weren't “my fault.” Scratch up another failure. After a couple years of jumping from bar stool to bar stool, I actually settled down with a woman that would become my wife. This was my first attempt at controlled drinking and sobriety.

All was well until August of 1994, while when sober, I experienced the loss of a child. My wife had left me with our daughter and she was asleep. I never heard her get up and when I went to look for her, I found her floating in the pool. This was the start of my drinking career, all over again. This wasn't a downward spiral; this was straight down to the bottom, and fast.

Many years of drinking, losses, consequences, and devastation were added to my resume including the loss of a marriage, children, jobs, and terms of incarceration in jail and prison. Friend and family relationships were destroyed. Nothing could shake the feeling of need that I had for alcohol. That was until the judicial system stepped in again, the final time.

Thanks to the New York Drug Treatment Courts and Hospitality House of Albany, I tell a different story of hope. Having such mountains of adversity stacked against us, makes it seem that it is inevitable to consume alcohol and then our lives. Truly working a program of sobriety has proven many of those adversities to be projections of demise in our own minds.

It is proven by our past that negativity attracts negativity, but on the flip side, positivity attracts positivity. As Winston Churchill said, "He who does not learn from history is destined to repeat it."

Thanks!!! It is with a healthy sense of gratitude and pride that I tell my story.