And The Journey Continues…
For more than three years, my Therapist at the Veterans Administration has been encouraging me to tell my story of how I came to be diagnosed with Service-Connected, Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. The Therapist didn’t just say that I needed to tell my story but that I must tell my story in order to recover and reconcile relationships wherever possible. I personally feel the need to tell my story so that I can set the record straight as to what happened and how the PTSD affected my decision making over the years. The PTSD is not an excuse for what happened, but an explaination of what happened. The purpose of telling my story through this website is to separate different periods in my life and to create links to relevant details. My goal is to create clarity, not agreement as to what actually happend. Most importantly for me, I will only have to tell my story once. The challenge in telling my story will be to resist the anger and resentments that have plagued my thinking and to just focus on the facts. After what I experienced over the years, it won't be easy. Before I begin, I want to give an update on where my life is today and it is wonderful. I have the ideal job for this moment in life, in very good health, and I live in a beautiful beach town with wonderful friends. In 2016, I met a woman who became my BFF and had twin daughters in grade school who changed my perspective on life. The twins became the daughters I never had and as they prepare to graduate from college, I couldn’t be prouder. At the end of the day I am not their father, but I sure feel like it. And it was the twins who inspired me to finally get sober for the second time. And thanks to the Trump Administration with the changes made to the VA in 2017, I am financially secure for the rest of my life including free medical care and other terrific benefits (lots of free or discounted golf!). My life is better than I could had ever hoped for and now I want for the rest of my life to be the best of my of my life...one day at a time. One final point to share before I begin my story – I harbor no animosity towards anyone who had to distance themselves from me over the years. I was living in a very dark place, very confused, and there was nothing they could have done to help me. Family and friends were better off being estranged from me than being caught up in my insanity that I was unaware of. For so long, I thought it was the rest of the world that had gone crazy and not me.
This image of my VA ID card is a link to my Military Service Record