If you missed {Part 1: Love At First Sight} please follow the link and begin there!
“Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend” (underline added)
Continued from Part 1:
The very next day Courtney was arrested. He was working at a call center, the owners of the call center were involved in some major illegal activity and the DEA came and raided it. Courtney had a syringe and spoon on him. I was at work (still in the mall but in a jewelry store) when he called me from Purgatory. He told me what had happened and I IMMEDIATELY flew into full fledged Co-Dependent Chaos. I had to save him! I had to come up with $10,000 to bail him out….NOW!
I couldn’t figure out why this was happening….I had just prayed to Heavenly Father, I had told him that I was overwhelmed to the brink of insanity. He knew my heart, didn’t he know that I was expecting him to just take Courts addiction away? No consequences, no reproductions, I had already suffered enough. Oh my naive mind! I couldn’t see then that this whole situation was guided by God himself. He did know my heart. He knew I needed a husband that was sober for himself, not for any other reason.
Courtney’s uncle was working for Washington County District Attorney Office at the time. We immediately called him to see what was going to happen from here. He told us that if we left him in jail that he would qualify for drug court and upon completion he would have his record wiped clean.
When I told Court the plan he lost it. He told me that he never should have married someone that wasn’t going to help him. He told me that he would never leave me in jail. He terrified me with the worry of something happening to him while he was in there. He told me he missed me and was ready to come home and be a good husband. He told me he would never use again. He told me that he would never talk to me again. He told me he would never call. He told me he was so sorry and he loved me. As you can see Addicts are manipulative, he was telling me everything that I wanted to hear and everything I didn’t want to hear in order to get me to bail him out. I probably would have done it a million times over in my moments of weakness if I had $10,000. That is one of the only times in my life that I am glad I was broke.
The first time I went to the jail to visit him will forever be ingrained in my mind. They take you to this really long hallway that is sectioned off. There is a chair, a phone and a tiny TV in each section. I sat there nervous as can be while they took him to a room with a phone and TV in it too. He looked so different. He was gaining weight. His hair was long and he was growing a beard. He was not happy to see me. For the next 15 minutes he answered my questions with “yes” or “no”. When he finally did talk he told me how much he hated being in there and he couldn’t believe that I of all people would leave him there. Heartbreak. I loved him so much and now I was even more alone than I was when he was home, His family was wonderful, but mine was hours away and I was not very open with them about the situation. I felt all alone in this world, with only our unborn Ivie to keep me company.
This was our life for the next 2 1/2 months. On Saturdays we could go and see him in person behind a huge plexi-glass wall. He was starting to smile again, he was acting more and more like the person that I felt in my heart he could be. He was happier and he was sober.
At the time Drug Court was handled by a company called Southwest Center. It is the same place that he had gone to the Reach program at 8 months prior. The counselors are assigned to inmates to evaluate them and see if they are a good candidate for Drug Court. Courtney’s counselors were named Angie and Aaron. My Co-Dependent controlling self immediately contacted them and set up a meeting. They HAD to know our situation. He HAD to get into Drug Court. They told me that for severe cases there was a 90 day minimum inpatient program in Cedar City called The Horizon House that they would send people to before they were admitted into Drug Court. Angie assured me that Court would not have to go there. I believed her.
I also wanted to tell you how FREAKIN expensive it is to have someone call you from jail. $500.00 in phone bills every month. Highway robbery I tell you.
I digress.
Finally it was the morning of his court date (court was at 5:00 pm). Angie and Aaron told me earlier in the week that they were going to be recommending that Courtney was accepted into drug court and I was so glad that he was finally going to be coming home!!!
Aaron called me that afternoon. He told me that they had spoken to the counselors that dealt with Courtney at Reach, these counselors had recommend The Horizon House to the judge and that’s what the judge had decided was the best thing.
He wasn’t going to come home today.
He wasn’t going to come home for at least 90 days.
I only had 4 weeks left in my pregnancy. He wasn’t going to be home in time to be there when Ivie was born.
The life drained out of me. I have never in my life wailed uncontrollably except for at this moment. I lost feeling in my legs and collapsed. I was completely inconsolable and void of any feeling at the same time. Why would Heavenly Father do this to me? Why would he do it to our baby? WHY?
We went into the courthouse that evening and Court was smiling. He didn’t know that he wasn’t coming home. The second he saw my face he knew that our plans had changed.
To Be Continued….
Mandi, I know how hard it is to share this story, because I have a story all too similar and different at the same time. We’ve battled drug use for over 3 years with my now 16 year old son. We still battle, BUT God got us through it and still does everyday. Those were some of the darkest days of my life, but they make the bright days that much brighter. He’s been clean for 14 months, and I am SO thankful everyday.
love to you girlie.
you are such a strong woman! i admire you so much for the way you handled all of this.
this is all such a heartbreaking and touching story.
wow! you have no idea how much your story is helping me today. Thank you!
Addiction is so hard to understand. Sounds like you must be in a much better place to write this. And you have a wonderful writing style as well.
God works in mysterious ways – never in the way you expect.
Thanks so much for opening up and sharing such a personal story – it has really touched me in many ways (and I’m impatient to read the next chapter).
~Chelsea
Why do you have to go and leave me hangin’? I’m still here listening:)
JEn
Wow! I can’t imagine. I am collapsing with you.
This story is just amazing to me. All the ins and outs of co-dependence, the manipulation addiction takes you to. . . wow. You are a great writer. I feel like I’m reading a psychology case study. It’s awesome. Don’t leave us hanging for too long, okey dokey?
Wow Mandi! Good to have those days behind you right! You are good at holding the suspense! (Not nice!)
Oh gosh girl. I’m amazed. You have been to hell and back. I’m so amazed at your wisdom. Will be waiting to hear the rest…
Miss America,
Thank you for sharing! I really need this information, inspiration right about now. My prayers are with you and your entire family.
I admire you. Life has taken me down a road that I never saw coming. I used to believe in God so much and then the unthinkable happened and I have lost faith. I hope someday I will be able to find it again.. I to have had that feeling, 90 day is nothing on twenty one years…
Love YOUR Guts Mandi………tell us what happens!
Mandi, all I can do is shake my head in awe. Awe at your courage, awe at your heartbreak. Awe at the fact that you are brave to tell your story when so many people couldn’t think it, nonetheless live it. I don’t know what you are going thru, I don’t know how you feel. I won’t pretend that I do cause I never want to. What I do want though is to tell you how you have so many people that care about you and Court without even meeting us.
Mandi, this takes so much courage to share. I know you will help many people by sharing your story. I am so glad that you have come out of this a stronger person. And my mom DOES follow you- I had no idea, but she found you on my blog list and started reading. Awesome!!
I am almost at a loss for words. My father-in-law is a recovering addict. A few years ago, my husband and I sat down and had a blunt talk about the fact that we were probably going to be planning his funeral soon. He had been on drugs for well over ten years, but he landed in jail last year and has now been sober for over one year. It is amazing the things the Lord can do. I never, ever thought I’d see my father-in-law clean and sober, yet it has happened. We took him in for almost a year and now he is back out on his own, but doing well. I have come so close to sharing our story so many times, but it is hard, so I admire you for being able to.