Editor, Times-Union: My name is Robert Flowers. I’m currently at the Kosciusko County Jail.
All my life I’ve struggled with addiction. I was released from Pendleton Correctional Facility July 31, 2012. Not long after my release I went to the Serenity House voluntarily. During my time there I felt so alive and healthy.
But most of all I felt good about me. I hadn’t felt that way in a long time.
Everything was going great. My wife and I were working things out and getting along, I was building a relationship with my children, I was clean and sober. I left the Serenity House to be with my family. I was working and doing things I’d never done before. I was being a father and a husband.
I let my guard down and thought I could go out and have a drink. I couldn’t have been more wrong. That night I used crystal meth. I was on a run for a week. I realized I was on the road to destruction once again. That week I was gone meth changed me for the worse. The old me was back just that quick.
Addiction is like a thief in the night. It is very patient. It will take everything good that you have and leave you with nothing. The reason I’m writing this is because I want to make people aware of the problem we have with meth in Kosciusko County. It is stealing our sons, daughters, husbands, wives and friends.
There is a sign on Ind. 15, it reads “Before I Met Meth I Had A Family.” That couldn’t be more true for me. To Jeffery Hoss Smith, my hat is off to you. You knew I wasn’t ready to leave, I should have listened. Like I said, addiction is patient.
The Serenity House is an awesome place for people that truly want help.
