(please click on pic to read the sign)
On my way to the lake today I took a different route through Sedalia, MO. It's a bit longer but I just wanted different scenery. Driving through Sedalia on US Highway 50 this sign was in a yard of a house.
At my first opportunity I made a U-turn. Pulling into the driveway I didn't know exactly what I was going to say but I knew I had to say something. Walking slowly to the front door I worked up the courage and rang the bell then knocked on the door. No one was home. I stood there for a second but felt like I couldn't leave. Walking into the front yard I took this picture.
I still couldn't leave without saying something to the people that posted this sign. Was it their daughter? Was it a friend? Was it a wife? Was she a mother? I didn't know but I knew they cared VERY much for this person and she must have been loved VERY much.
Searching through my truck I could not find a pad of paper. The best I could do was an old envelope from a boat registration. I began writing. It was hard to string words together but I wanted them to know how much good they were doing for others with this sign. Removing the stigma is the first step in the battle to help others.
I wrote till I ran out of paper. Then I took one of the business cards I make available at my talks and I took one of my Partnership at Drugfree Kids cards and wedged them all in the back door.
As I backed out onto the busy highway my stomach was in knots and my heart was hurting, not from the traffic. Driving east on Highway 50 a few miles I was still sad until a tear feel down my cheek for this poor girl.
The realization that on this day I am the luckiest parent in the world struck home. I could have had a sign like this in my yard, but I don't. My son is in recovery today and every day I AM the luckiest father on Earth.
It is sad, but with people like these it gives me hope and confidence that one day we will slay the monster.
