I was doing my groceries the other night when I bumped into an old high school friend who used to be one of the most popular students in our batch. After we exchanged greetings and chatted about what we’d been up to ever since we parted ways for college, we decided to continue our conversation over dinner at a nearby restaurant.

We both quickly finished our grocery shopping and agreed to meet at the restaurant in half an hour. I must say that I was really excited to touch base with her again after such a long time of not hearing anything from her. She’s one of the few people I looked up to in school back then and I’m still proud to this day that someone as popular as her considered me as a close friend during our high school days.

There was no reason to doubt why she was voted as student council president, homecoming queen and prom queen in our senior year. She was the epitome of a perfect student with her good looks, sheer talent and remarkable intellect. She managed a number of extracurricular activities, which included being one of the lead stars in our drama club, being one of the prettiest cheerleaders, and being a columnist in the school newspaper, and yet she aced most of her classes and even got an outstanding merit award during our senior awards night.

This is why I got the biggest shock of my life when she told me over dinner that her life fell apart when she was in college and she had to drop out and seek professional help in a substance abuse rehab center. Even as she told me the story of how she became an alcoholic and a drug addict after a bad breakup with someone she fell head over heels in love with, I still found it hard to associate the image of a miserable drug dependent with my memory of the pretty, intelligent, strong-willed and cheerful prom queen who was my high school buddy.

She told how she felt out of place in college, not finding the same adoration and recognition she received from her high school peers. It didn’t help that she was far away from home and that it was hard to feel the moral support from her family at such a far distance. She only felt at ease when she met someone she fell completely in love with. Unfortunately, she turned to the wrong solutions in her effort to cope when their relationship didn’t work the way she had hoped it would.

I felt sorry just by listening to her recall how she got herself entangled in the vicious web of drug addiction. According to her, it was too late when she realized that she could no longer control her drug addiction problem on her own and she began to see her life as a total wreck. Her parents found out the hard way but they immediately got her into a drug addiction treatment center where she resided for a couple of months to finish her drug rehab program.

After hearing her story, I was thankful that my friend was able to overcome that difficult stage in her life. It’s a good thing she was brought to a substance abuse rehab and she was able to regain control of her life. I’m glad that all traces of her drug addiction problem are gone now and all I see is the beautiful and optimistic friend who gives me fond memories of my high school days.

Substance Abuse Rehab Center

Tags: Substance Abuse, substance abuse rehab center, substance abuse programs

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