Hey Bill, thanks for hollaring back at me:) yea I just found this forum yesterday, hehe, seeing it was my 22 annivers. I went into Straight Sarasota May 5th 1981, remember it clearly. My mom brought me down from cincinnati to go into the program cause I was such a ahole punk (I really was).I had a pack of smokes in my pocket with 2-3 fat ones rolled up, thinking later that night I was going to the beach and burn them. Little did I know what excatly was in store for me.My memory is very fogged from that period of time, I apologize if for not remembering you. I can only remember a handful of names-BUT after reading this board several more came into my mind, like Bobby and Kathy.
My brother came into the program several months later, Mike Chitwood, and he whizzed through the program, my brother new how to play them like the fools they were, he was in and 7th stepped like in 7-9 months. But he told me stories of 5th phase when he was supposed to be at work he was out reading playboys and hanging on the beach, hehe.
I was in the program for almost 2 full years, It took me awhile to understand their system and conform, ughhh. After 7th stepping I thought it was ludacris to not be able to date and started my rebelious attitude then. I started hanging with the folks in my high school that thought I was nuts in the program and they became my friends. I started doing the things a normal 16-17 year old would do, going to Riverview High footbball games, dating the lovely ladies, drinking a few beers at parties and just being an adolescent. Well the 7th steppers got word of my actions and it got ugly, they called me in and I got confronted, told them I was basically through with them and was ready to be on my own. Dr.Burns came into the office and told me that If I left I would have to leave my car keys with him because my grandmother gave me the car and if I wasnt in the program I wasnt driving. So I gave him my car keys and got my insulin and syringes from him and walked out the door and started to hitchhike down Cattelman road. I went to Carl Greenwalds(I think thats his name)he had a sister named Holly, house and hung for a few days. After that things get blurry. Bits and pieces I remember. I wound up going into the Florida Prison system for a two year stint. After getting out of prison the first time Sammantha Monroe got in touch with me and we became friends, sad thing was I became a stupid drunkard and drank like a fish and she basically didnt want anything to do with me after that. Life started going even further down, I was shooting up, living on the beaches, commiting burglaries, and just basically being a F*** Up. I wound up going back into the Florida Prison system for a 9 year sentence, I did 3 of the nine years, should have only done 1 1/2 but since I encited riots, sold pot, and basically was very rebellious I had to do a little over 3 years, thats the only way to stay alive in there. After getting out for the second time,(Mind you my family has stuck by me through all this)I went and stayed with my brother for a few weeks over on Beneva road. Then I went to live with my mom in NY, I said if I can make it in NY I can make it anywhere. I came here in 89, met my wife, got married in 91, had my first child (girl) now 7 and a 5 year old boy-Jake and Jessica. I have been working in the IT field for the past 8-10 years and have recently been working for IBM on a project for Qwest communications doing project management. Well I didnt mean to ramble on and on and on, it all just started flowing. If you have any questions, please feel free to shoot me an email at
chitwoodm@aol.com.
Smoke em if ya got em
:smokin:
TTYL
Mark
