Wisconsin Voices For Recovery Newsletter

A mom, dad,4 kids, and like 3 uncles all of them drunk as hell every single day. One day the dad blasted the mom in the face with a half case and knocked her right out. They had the cops there 2 or 3 times a week. We moved to a cheaper house on the outskirts of town and mom had to work at 5 am so we kids got dropped at the old house (while it was paid for) and wed shower there have cereal and walk to school for the rest of the year. I (Dave Larson) mouthed off and had my 1st fight there and it was over after the kid got me in the nose with the first punch. I didn’t like it and decided I wasn’t gonna mouth off anymore…. This new house had two neighbors one was a weird family and the other was a relative of the guy who brought us there. They had kids a bit older than us but they had to drag us with them all the same. The first nite we were supposed to go to the movie but we went downtown to look at the hookers, they gave me a bong hit and said yer bro had one yesterday. It was an uncle sam bong and I (Dave Larson) never smoked weed so potent in my short life (10). By the end of that summer, we were stealing cigs and pipe tobacco cuz we were jonesing to get high and we knew that made us lightheaded. 

So much so we couldn’t crawl down the ladder to our treehouse for 30 mins after we smoked and weren’t so dizzy.. my friend had a garage with all kinds of spray paint and showed us how to huff paint. I (Dave Larson) found a new love. I’d huff every time I went there which was often. One day he was there and mom was making dinner I figured id huff till she called me. Well, it started getting dark so I went in and she said I’ve been calling and calling u to come to eat. I was like 20 feet away and didn’t hear one word.. that was the last time I (Dave Larson) never smoked weed so potent in my short life (10). By the end of that summer, we were stealing cigs and pipe tobacco huffed paint. She caught me smoking and said I was gonna smoke the whole pack and that would fix me. We sat at the table and she made me light one and I (Dave Larson) never smoked weed so potent in my short life (10). By the end of that summer, we were stealing cigs and pipe tobacco blew it out and she said come on inhale I told her that wasn’t how I did it she laughed… I think I (Dave Larson) never smoked weed so potent in my short life (10). By the end of that summer, we were stealing cigs and pipe tobacco smoked 7 in a row and I was so sick I didn’t want to ever hear the word cigarette again. 

He Was Going Out With His Friend’s Ex-Wife

I went to my room, when I woke up in the morning I went straight for her cigs cuz that was all I could think about and that was the beginning of my tobacco use full time. 11 I think. We moved again into a house where I (Dave Larson) and my bro still had to share a room and bed.. we couldn’t afford a phone so all the relatives had the neighbors number in case of emergency.. my bro and i took the greyhound back to see my dad for the summer. He “bought “ us mini bikes. We spent more time at grammas or on those bikes. Hed go party like every nite, on Monday gram would bring us back and there would be bikers passed out in the yard, the house, everywhere. She would leave and wed get on our bikes and ride till we were out of gas. I (Dave Larson) remember when we were there at nite when he was out there were top ramen and broccoli and that was IT for food. all summer… he was going out with his friend’s ex-wife and so her kids got me and my brother’s bedrooms and lived there with my dad while we lived 300 miles away… At the end of the summer, he starts us in school and said moms moving back. well, a week later she shows up and said my dad wouldn’t send us back.

In The ICU He Looked Normal, I Mean He Couldn’t Die

Even then I (Dave Larson) thought he was a piece of work when he didn’t have the time to take care of us but expected us to stay there. ( gramma was the one we were staying with). Our car broke down on the way back but luckily got us back, and mom had a new man… he looked about 5 years older than me. He didn’t beat her but we treated him like shit. One day I wiped put on my bicycle and hurt my back so bad I (Dave Larson) could barely move the next day.it was Wednesday… the day after that we got an emergency call my dad wiped out his Panhead and they didn’t know,” if he would make it” we better go back… which is what we did. In the ICU he looked normal I (Dave Larson) mean he couldn’t die, he had a car fall onto his head and lived, nothing could kill my weight liftin child beating dad…. My cousin took us to pizza and the next day they “ unplugged” him. And that was it, no more DAD. 

At his funeral the family car turned right then about a mile downturned left, I looked back at the right turn we just took and there were Harleys from the limo we were into that corner. We got to the graveyard and it took about 45 mins for all the bikes to arrive. My cousin puts his leather on top of him and a fifth of jack daniels and a bottle of cocaine. We went to my cousins for after party and someone gave me a joint so I stole a pint of the wild turkey and went on a walk. Finished the joint and pint by myself and wasn’t even sick. I (Dave Larson) was 11. After that we got his social security so we didn’t have to steal shoes anymore or wear hand-me-down bell bottoms.. we moved to a nicer house in a nicer neighborhood. When people ask about my dad I tell them the best thing he did for us was die, and it was true.