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Thanks for the ping! I have been working really hard on the old house that we have been restoring and have been fooling around on this thread for the past couple of days when resting. I feel bad that some people were offended by my comments and that I let myself be sucked into a nasty conflict with fr_freak.

I think that it is great that you were able to dump the stuff that was holding you back and get on with your life. Very few people are actually able to do that.

Unfortunately my extended family has had a lot of problems with addictive substances. My grandmother on my mother’s side was half Sioux Indian and half Norwegian Eskimo (Sami). My grandfather emigrated from Northern Norway and he had a problem with alcohol despite being a genius who could figure out anything and a very successful small businessman. On my father’s side there have been a lot of problems as well.

So I was raised from an early age with stern warnings from both of my parents that our family has bad problems with addictive substances. We never had alcohol at all. I have no doubt that if I had started drinking or smoking pot that substance abuse would most likely have killed me by now. Instead I have had a fabulously rewarding life and consider myself one of the luckiest people in the world.

I went on so many suicides during my career. Most of them were young people with substance abuse problems. Some of them were incredible people. What a heartbreak! And what a waste.