Getting kicked out

Time: 2006
Place: Creekside Apartments, Boulder CO

I was kicked out of my parents house in my teens, I had pushed them to their limits. I got out of a wilderness treatment center at the age of 16 and moved directly into a sober house ran by my drug counselor. I started using again, got caught with a handle of vodka and got kicked out. Luckily I quickly landed a job at a call center in Boulder named Bolder Calls. Since I was under 18, I found an older co-worker to move in with at the Creekside Apartments. Although the circumstances by which I had gotten to this spot were because of my wreckless decisions, there was a sense of pride writing a $1400 check as a teen. Especially since the rest of the kids my age were still worried about their curfew or next weeks’ science project.

Just because I didn’t breath a sober breath didn’t stop me from working my ass off. It was me vs the world now, nobody owed me shit, I had gotten myself into this circumstance so I had no choice but to survive. I learned quickly how to be an adult. I was forced to learn real life skills, and fast. I worked overtime at my job every week and would middle man drug deals at every opportunity I could for extra cash. I was broke, paycheck to paycheck, but I did what I had to do to survive. 

Would I advise teenagers to drop out of high school? Fuck no, of course not. But do I regret dropping out? No. The amount of first hand, real world experience I got being out on my own so young was priceless. Was it hard? Hell yeah it was! Was there times I could barely even afford to eat? Yeah, definitely. I fucking struggled and I struggled hard but wow... what a humbling experience looking back now. I’ll never regret the past, especially since the only thing I have the power to change is the future!