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Simon's Story |
If you’ve ever been to Walden House’s administrative offices at 22nd Street in Los Angeles, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve met Simon. A recent graduate of Walden House’s Substance Abuse Program at Corcoran State Prison, 61 year-old Simon just can’t give Walden House up. “This place is damn good,” Simon says. “I can’t walk away. Besides, when you love something, you just don’t want to let it go.”
“At Walden House, I’m surrounded by recovery. So even if I’m just hanging around sweeping up the parking lot, it feels good to do for Walden House after they’ve done so much for me.”
Growing up in Texas, Simon always dreamed of the big city. “When I came to Los Angeles, my dad said I wouldn’t find nothing but trouble.” That was almost 45 years ago. Simon began using alcohol and marijuana socially, but his problems really hit hard in his early forties when he began smoking crack cocaine. “I can’t explain it,” Simon says. “I just had to try it. And then I got hooked.” His habit led to his first drug-related conviction at the age of 44. From then, it was a series of arrests and convictions, all on drug related charges. “They’d release me,” Simon says, “but then I’d get out and the first thing I’d do is get myself a bag of dope and start all over again.”
“I finally decided to try drug treatment during my last time at Corcoran,” Simon says. “I was tired of going back to jail but I wasn’t sure what I thought about Walden House and what the counselors were saying. I thought about my family a lot– and I’d put a lot of hurts on them, and it feels bad when someone loves you and you keep on destroying your life. So I kept on going to my groups and saying that powerful Walden House creed and when I got out Walden House said they’d have my back and they did.”
“I needed my counselors at Walden House or I’d still be in prison. Coming to Walden House was the best choice I ever made. I am a part of this family and Walden House is a part of my family. So I get on the bus and I come here because I don’t want to get lost again. Besides, when you take a piece of candy, you’ve got to put it back. So I’m putting back.”
Now, Simon shares an apartment with his son, and he’s proud of the life he’s living. “Used to be kids saw me and they’d know I was just an old crackhead. Now they don’t walk away from me. They call me sir. I see policemen in the street and I can stop and say hello and shake their hand and I don’t have to worry about them seeing me reach in my pocket, because the only thing in my pocket is my wallet.”
Simon just got back from a trip to Texas, his first vacation home in 40 years without being high. “I’ve got a lot now that I’m not loaded and not in prison – things some people don’t think much about,” he says. “Like getting up in my own bed, brushing my teeth without someone saying to ‘hurry up and brush your teeth.’ I fry my own eggs and bacon. I go to church when I want. I buy myself a soda when I want. I’m in the right place now.”
But the best part of his new life? After all those years of sickness, he’s now well enough to spend real time with his granddaughter. “My kids trust me to watch her. Before, I wasn’t even allowed to be around her, and never alone. Now I get to be with her all the time. And you know what – she really loves me. I asked my granddaughter, I said ‘how do you know you love me?’ and she just said ‘because I love you.’ That just means everything to me.”