Okay, finally, first time writing, but I’ve been listening since day 1; my cousin was a member of Chris’s um, harem at some point, and she put me on. Figured I’d try to hit you with a little Dopey for the 400th (!!!) episode. Okay so 20ish years ago, I was living back home while doing a year at a local community college — after failing out of UMass for the second time. My girlfriend was out in Amherst, so I spent a lot of time out there. I guess that technically, I would have said I was an Oxy dealer, but unsurprisingly, I used way, way more than I sold. So here’s some shit I got into over like, a 10-day span in 2005/6.. I went to a friends house to play cards. Brought a whole bunch of 80s — still feel bad for you that you missed out on those, and am always surprised no one ever talks about the 160s, but I digress. So I got all fucked up and my friends tried to keep me from driving — took my keys, etc. I managed to duck out of there somehow, and on the way home, I nodded out at the wheel and totaled my dad’s car. Couple days later, i thought it was a good idea to drive from my house to UMass in the middle of a blizzard to move 25 80s. There was about a foot of snow on the road, and I wound up losing control on the highway .. spun out across the Mass Pike, air bags deployed, car totaled.. the roads were so bad that I waited a couple of hours for the ambulance, and I wound up on the way to the hospital before I could get to my little stash spot in my trunk. I went to some bootleg hospital out in the western MA area; I got some stitches in my head, and was cleared to leave, but had no way to get anywhere. I called the non-emergency number for the State Police and got the address for the place where my car had been towed. Then I called a 24 hour livery service whose number I got from a Yellow Pages, and got picked up at about 2:00 in the morning by a possibly drunk lady driving her old minivan. I had no wallet or anything, because I’d left everything in my car. I told her that I had drugs in there, and I’d give her some of them if she drove me to my car before bringing me to UMass. She did exactly that, and I threw her a couple of the 80s; we spent a good 3 hours together because of how long it took us to get from the hospital to the tow yard to UMass, and she was definitely not sober, so it was a pretty crazy ride. Made it to UMass and moved the 20 remaining 80s when I got there, and then just wound up staying there for a week or so — with no car to get home. In that time, I skipped a few shifts at my job with no notice or explanation and was promptly fired. Definitely not my best week, but honestly, not my worst, either. Anyway, I wanted to finally send something in. I celebrated five years on February 5th, and I mean it when I say that Dopey is one of the most impactful and consistent parts of my recovery. I would not have the life I have today if it weren’t for you and Chris and Cormac and whoever runs the DN FB page these days (I’m off Facebook! shouts to Johann) and Todd and Alan and Ray and Fentanyl Jay and Erin and all the other regulars and the whole entire Dopey Nation. I love you Dave. Keep doing what you’re doing. You have changed my life and my family’s life immeasurably. Stay strong Dopey Nation, and FTFC
Nick
