Brother Steve

I moved to Idaho from Oregon in 1993, my now ex-wife had grown up in Pinehurst in the Silver Valley so we settled there. I met some people in local 12 step meetings like I always do, but mostly stayed to myself and home. Then I met a man named Steve who had a sense of humor like mine and we hit it off, he was new to recovery so he asked me to sponsor him, I had about 6 years then. I accepted and we started hanging out and just being friends. Then Steve went on a binge and his wife left him. I tried talking to him but he just shined me on. Then one night he called me and said he had died in his bathtub and  then came back to life underwater. I picked him up and took him to the hospital detox. Then cleaned out his house of all booze and emptys. He struggled, lost his home, I let him stay with me and my family. He got a job in CDA and hitchhiked to and from work in the winter to a car wash job. I helped him get an apartment in CDA. He stayed sober about a year then relapsed, within a year he found himself heading to prison for attempting to blow up a cop car with dynamite he had smuggled from his job in the mines. When he got out I had relapsed, gotten divorced, and was deep into drugs. When I got sober again we became roomates. That was one of the best years of my life, we had steak dinners, pizza and movie nights with friends, went camping and to banquets, he got me back into playing guitar...etc. The point is he is one of the first people besides my family that I have truly cared for and can call a best friend, today we still hang out on occasion and go to a couple of conventions on the Oregon coast twice a year, we still have that instant rapport and humor, I can call on him anytime I need a hand, and he can do the same. We shared a history of struggle and watched each other suffer while helplessly looking on, unable to do anything. I love my friend Steve, he helped to teach me that you never give up on a true friend, sometimes we can be the only motivation that keeps them from slipping over the edge, he taught me how to love unconditionally, when he was in his cups, I still cared and tried to help, I wanted my friend back. He and I both have been to the gates of insanity and death and have come back to tell the tale. Hopefully in doing so we can help others to turn back before it is too late.