At 5pm today I got stopped by a woman as I was walking up my ma's road. She said, 'its Mark isn't it?' It turns out she had read one of the SUGAR magazines and the World Drugs Event article about 'my mom's smile!'. She also knew of me when I was at my worst and that I used to use with her daughter. We spent twenty minutes chattin' about drugs, her grandson and her desire to help her daughter who has been using since 1995. Well, just as we were saying our goodbyes, two drug squad officers I've had occasion, in the past, to have dealings with (and they really disliked me with venom), pulled up, said they were making routine checks and asked 'how we were?' - you can imagine my initial reaction, but hey, life has moved on and so have I, so when the one officer asked if LD (won't mention her by name) knew me and she answered just, 'Yes, I do!" (quite protectively), I asked her if she would tell the officers how she knew me and what we had just been discussing. She said, 'I'd be happy to,' turned to the officer and said, 'I knew of Mark some years ago, he was on drugs and knew my daughter but he's with SUGAR now, that's right isn't it Mark? He's helping me access a families and carers group and I want him to help my daughter.' I felt jubilant to say the least but showed no reaction. The officers changed the conversation and i almost became quite cynical towards them but something made me put on my biggest genuine smile as I gave them two of the postcards advertising the new recovery website (www.mylife4me.co.uk - being launched 12th March), explained what the cards were and said, 'I understand why you stopped and I know some things don't change,' - then looking at them with the feeling of being a responsible and productive member of the local community and wider society, I added, 'but some things do..!' - as the officers said their guarded thanks and began to drive away puzzled and uncertain of what had just happened there must have been a moment of clarity because from the passenger window the one officer leaned out, gave me a thumbs up and shouted, "nice one Spooner!" with a grin from ear to ear!
Ain't recovery sweet...!! ;-)
