A Tribute to My Dad’s Recovery

Mike expresses admiration to his father for his incredible feat of willpower in sustaining over 20 years of sobriety. He contrasts his earlier "rockstar life" of heavy drug use with the disciplined, clean lifestyle he maintained while raising a son, highlighting that he quit everything — from heroin to cigarettes — cold turkey without the help of medication or patches.

The subject of addiction has been on my mind a lot lately. My dad suffered from addiction to some really hard substances. It’s incredible to think about because when he was around the age I am now—in his late 30s—he was doing some awful drugs, including heroin.

But then, at the age of 40, he married my mom and had me. It’s truly remarkable when I think about it: not once during my childhood, in all those years growing up in that house, did my dad pick up a drink of alcohol. Not once did he smoke a single cigarette. He didn't touch any drugs. He was completely clean for 20 years.

This was right after living a 'rockstar life' involving shooting up and snorting all kinds of things. I find that incredibly admirable. I don’t know anyone else who has done that.

Some people might wonder if he was just doing it behind my back, but I really don’t think so. I wasn’t that naive; I would have noticed if he was high. For 20 years, he didn't touch a single drop of anything. In fact, he was the authority figure I was afraid of if I ever got caught drinking.

What’s even more amazing is that he didn't use patches, medication, or anything else to quit. He just made the choice. Seeing the current issues with things like meth everywhere, his story gives me a little bit of hope.

I’m not trying to make it sound easy. Overcoming addiction is incredibly tough. I’ve been to addiction camps, AA meetings, and NA meetings myself. Those were powerful moments, seeing what others—and what I—went through. I went for marijuana, which I don’t think has the same chemical addiction as hard drugs, which is why I eventually allowed myself to smoke it again.

But I really wanted to share this as a shoutout to my dad. It’s an incredible achievement, and in my opinion, he never got nearly as much credit for it as he deserved.