Comments on: Starting the Downward Slide

By: Tim Chatham

Tim Chatham — Wed, 30 Jan 2019 12:15:16 +0000

Hey Bro! In the 50 years I’ve had the privilege to call you friend I have never heard this story! I can see this truly came from the heart and the feelings and remorse you have expressed seem to resonate till this day. It was so unfortunate that your relationship with Ken could not survive these events. I do remember your involvement in the Big Brother program and how it secured you emotionally. You were fortunate to have Ken in your life. Looking back on my own formative years I wish I had had a Big Brother/Father figure to guide me through life.
I had a driving experience with my mom where she was teaching me how to drive on a backroad between Caledonia and Hagersville. When we got pulled over we escaped any real consequences thanks to Mom’s clever talking and .the sympathy of the officer. I didn’t bother her to let me drive until I was 16. Experiences like ours you have aptly characterized many times with your patent phrase, “Chalk it up to tuition”.

By: Tamra Mann

Tamra Mann — Mon, 24 Sep 2018 14:44:58 +0000

Hey Randy
I terestig read! Kudos to you for totally owning your choices. I get the sense that owning your choices has been an important part of your ongoing journey to wellness. So I ask the following with all due respect and caution: where’s Ken and the B.B. association in your narrative? Surely he played a role in your downward slide ~ giving alcohol to a minor, then completely abandoning you instead of having a conversation and working out some mutual accountabilities going forward. Yes, no doubt what you did was the product of impulsivity and poor judgment, fueled by alcohol but what was his excuse? My point is not to actually get an answer, nor to cast blame or exonerate you for your choices and their consequences, but simply to point out that no action occurs in a vacuum. I wonder how much different your life might have been if he had owned up to his part, and by doing so, set the badly needed example of how decent people go about righting the wrongs they have committed.

By: Liz Ciarmoli

Liz Ciarmoli — Mon, 17 Sep 2018 15:40:22 +0000

You were definitely daring back then & lucky nothing else bad happened that night. Sorry, just your sister giving you shit 🙂 As for Ken, I’m sorry this ended that relationship, it was clearly a happy place for you, although doing not so good stuff unbeknownst to him that night. It clearly effected you both. I wonder how those sequences of events impacted you in choices after that, that were soon made. As for Dad, different memories & feelings. I understand yours & I’m sure you understand mine <3