Nick
Feb 19th 2024 - By Rex Hohlbein
Nick's mother left the family when he was 2 years old.
She said she was too young to raise two kids and handle a husband that drank too much. So she just left. His father was there, but not really. Nick and his brother were raised by his grandparents.
At 12 Nick was doing heavy drugs. Drugs and jail time. At 34 he left his home town of Geneseo, Illinois, looking for a new start, randomly picking Seattle on a map. He stepped off the train with nothing to his name, instantly homeless. That was 2016.
I asked Nick why he left his home, had something specific happened? He said, "Lots of things were happening, I was fast tracking myself back to prison, drinking a case of beer a day. I had to leave. I needed to run away from myself."
Nick found construction work fairly quickly in Seattle, building decks and fences and other framing work, all the time using drugs. It caught up with him, costing him his job. Without work, Nick spiraled deeper into homelessness, living with no income, dumpster diving for food, going a year without a dime in his pocket.
Eventually, the struggle was too much, he began breaking into people's homes, which led to getting caught and arrested. Twelve hours later he was arrested again when he broke into a home that was for sale, looking for a place to get out of the rain.
When he was arrested for the third time, he figured he would be in prison for a very long time. It washed over him how he had messed up his life, that there was nobody to blame but himself. At that point, sitting in his jail cell, he heard a voice say, "We need you sober." It dropped him to his knees. Nick said, " It spooked me to my core."
Before hearing the voice, he was going through withdrawals from the drugs in his body, feeling extremely dope sick. When hearing the voice he was instantly free of being sick as well as free from his craving for drugs.
A month later he was offered drug court, sober living, and a job with Weld Seattle. He stayed with Weld for almost three years, helping them run their housing program. December 2023 he began his own LLC doing general contracting, working on bathrooms, flooring, door installations, tile work, etc. Nick was in a really good place. He had housing, his own business, a truck as well as the needed tools, andAND, he had jobs. He was making it happen, wowWOW!!
Last week a friend asked him to go snowmobiling out near Leavenworth. While finishing up the day, Nick had a freak accident, hitting ice, crashing his knee into a tree at 40 mph. He dislocated his hip, pushing it up through his pelvis, as well as fracturing his knee cap, and tearing his posterior cruciate ligament.
He'll be out of work for 6 months.
He needs some help getting through this rough patch. He doesn't want to have to sell his truck or tools just when getting on his feet.
Friends of Nick have set up a GoFundMe page. If you are so inclined, as I am, to help Nick stay on his goodGOOD path, please consider supporting him, even if just a little.
Nick shared, "Since quitting drugs four years ago, I have had a peace within me that is constant and unshakeable. This is a setback, but I know I will get through it."
LOVE.
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