Redemption

Cherry’s worked at the rehab longer than I have. She started at 12 bucks an hour and is now the program director at our outpatient facilities.

She’s 55 years old, overworked, overweight, and foul mouthed. One of her eyes twitches almost constantly. The doctor said it’s “from lack of sleep and stress”.

She says “friend” at the end of every sentence. Like, “How are you, friend?” or “It’s been a long fucking day, friend”… I asked her once if she’d ever been arrested. She replied, “37 times, friend”.

She and her brother were raised by an alcoholic mother who had different men in and out of the house on a regular basis. She witnessed beatings, arguments and sexual activity that no child should witness.

By 8 she was removed from her mother’s care and adopted by her grandmother. She never knew her father.

At 16, she left school and ran away from home. She was addicted to speed. She had her first daughter at 21 with some truck driver passing through town. She had a second daughter a couple of years later but quickly lost custody of both.

She first tried heroin on June 17, 1994. She remembers the date because the OJ Bronco chase was on television.

She got very sick that night but woke up in the morning and wanted to do it again. Same result. She woke up the next morning and tried it one more time. 3 times was a charm and this time she didn’t get sick. She fell in love.

She would spend the next 15 years shooting heroin and cocaine. She lived the life of a junkie criminal doing whatever and hurting whoever she had to for her next fix.

Her final prison sentence was for 6 years. She was a model prisoner, got her GED, and after two years the judge released her and put her in a 2 year inpatient drug program for women. She hasn’t used since and has a framed picture of that judge on her desk.

During those two years she went to school for addiction studies and started to build back a relationship with her daughters.

When she was finally released she got a job at our rehab. She was a hard worker and quickly rose through the ranks because she was damn good at it. The best I’ve ever seen. She’s genuine, compassionate, and filled with common sense and love.

There was an obnoxious client I hated. Everyone hated. I was complaining to Cherry about him and she said, “I love him”. I couldn’t believe it. I asked her why and she told me a story that when he was 10 years old his single alcoholic mother promised him that one night she would take him roller skating and to the arcade. He was so excited. When that night finally arrived he got all ready and waited in front of the TV for his mom. She was drunk and getting ready in the bathroom. He could tell by the clothes and perfume she was putting on that she wasn’t going to any arcade. She was getting ready for the bar. She walked by him and out the door. He never looked up from the television or said a word. He told Cherry he can still smell the perfume.

Cherry had tears in her eyes when she recounted this story. And so did I. I got a big lesson in empathy that day and try to carry it with me each time I go into work.

Once I had an intake who had no business being at the rehab. He was a schizophrenic with AIDS and had been up for a week shooting meth. He was out of his mind and incapable of sitting still. He needed to be in a hospital. I couldn’t even get the blood pressure cuff on his arm much less have him sign Consent for Treatment.

I called Cherry and she came into the med room where we were. She kneeled down next to him and started rubbing his back in big circles. He was jiggling around and talking gibberish. She ignored him and kept on rubbing. She would hum softly and kept saying “shhh”… The kid started crying and slowly calming down. He could feel her love and it was like a super power. Ten minutes later I was able to take a blood pressure reading and he signed all his intake forms.

Cherry finally became a program director and our highest paid employee. Well deserved.

Her daughters are now both active drug addicts. They have 3 children all of whom Cherry has adopted and is raising. The youngest, an 18 month old boy, has two fatal medical conditions. A heart defect and a blood disease. If he is able to undergo a heart transplant and all goes well his lifespan will be 30-35 years. If not, he could die before age 5. However long he lives, he will be loved. She will see to that.

She’s the most authentic person I’ve ever met. I’ve never seen her act different around a single soul. The owner, the CEO, a worried parent, a gangster convict. It doesn’t matter. They all get the same Cherry. She doesn’t try to hide her flaws. She’ll tell anyone who she is and problems she’s having. All you have to do is ask.

I never tell anyone at work what’s really going on with me. I went through a period when it was all just too much. I had made the decision to quit. I sat down with Cherry and we spoke. She didn’t fix anything but an hour later I felt better… and I’m still here.

She helps clients and staff every day. She’s filled with love and gives it freely to anyone she comes in contact with.

She devotes her life to raising her three grandchildren and giving them all the things she and her daughters never got.

She’ll win no awards. There will be no statue of her in the park. And you won’t get the day off work on her birthday. But in her own humble, unassuming way she is a hero. For she does the best thing one can possibly do…. She makes the world a better place. 

I once told her she was making up for her past. She said “Yeah, you never get away with anything in this life”.

Lucky for us, friend.