I had the opportunity to sit down and have a long talk with
my dear friend Cade Saurage from La Hacienda Treatment Center who at one point in his life and
through his addiction was on the other side of the law, now he helps Safe Call Now® save the lives of first responders and is very blessed to do so.
So I pull onto the highway and head down the road, see him
sitting in his patrol car as I fly by going 76 in a 70 and then watch as he
slowly turns his car around to get behind me. I sit up straight like I did in
grade school when my teacher spotted me passing a note. The muscles in my
stomach tighten as my ‘anti-cop’ conscious starts firing out the facts…….
“I’m only going 6-miles
over the speed limit. Maybe he’s not even coming for me; maybe he is just
turning around. Should I exit here and see if he follows me? Crap, I can’t
afford a ticket right now. I hate defensive driving. My insurance is going to
go up. Here he comes. Crap. What a butt. Doesn’t he have crimes to investigate?
He must be short on his ticket quota. Isn’t this entrapment?”
And so I slow down to 60 as if 10 miles an hour less will
counter the 6 miles an hour I was over. I stare in my rear view and smile while
I prep the biggest sob story I can think of settling on the truth since maybe
that would be a break from his norm. And he drives on by; doesn’t even look at
me. My heart rate starts to drop from 120 and I breathe a sigh of relief. And then
I start to think about where I am at today, what I have learned over the past
two years through this new divinely-inspired (even ironic) relationship with
the first responder community and I thank God, with all of his glory and sense
of humor, that He took a young troubled soul stuck in the throes of addiction
and misconduct to a life of sobriety, integrity, freedom and happiness beyond
measure. And 8 years in, He introduces him to Safe Call Now……..and a community
of cops!
9 years ago, the mere sight of a police officer made me
cringe because my behavior supported the life of an alcoholic and drug addict
and I was no stranger to incarceration. Recovery from addiction softened my
heart and a power greater than I brought me to Sean Riley, president of Safe
Call Now®. And through a series of many more first responder introductions, I
quickly learned the horrific details of the challenges officers face putting
their lives on the line to protect the freedom that I took for granted for 26
years of my life. More importantly and why I am even in their picture, are the
challenges I try to relate to……..those in the mind, the heart, the home, the soul,
the allergic reaction to alcohol, they want to celebrate and then they need to
stop the pain. When I got sober, I had 1,000 options on how to proceed. The
first responders have so very few. My job gave me time off. They even paid for
my treatment. First responders get shunned, even fired.
I work for one of the top treatment centers in the country
now, La Hacienda Treatment Center in Texas, and I spearhead one of our
strongest relationships with the first responder world through Sean and Safe Call Now®. My childhood friends get quite a chuckle when I tell them that I am
working a room at the FBI National Convention. But, I no longer see it as irony,
but rather God’s way of making things right.
So, I’ll still stiffen up when they pull behind me on the
highway and possibly drop a profanity when the red and blues light up, but
don’t think for a second there’s not a Safe Call Now® brochure sitting on my front
seat. And rest assured that officer will get a ‘thank you’ and a business card.
God is good! Stay safe all, we need you!!!
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