Jackson...

Hey guys! I know I am in the middle of my vacation and please believe I am having an AWESOME time. P and I have met a lot of cool new people. There is one in particular that I want to tell you all a little more about.

Jackson (I spoke of him in the previous post)... ah... Mr. Jackson. We met him on our first night here. He came across as being a fun loving party animal. That was AWESOME for us, because we did indeed come down here to have a ball. We partied and drank it up on Thursday, which ended in skinny dipping, throwing up and me and P heading back to the room (alone). That was all fine and dandy. We told Jackson bye and said we looked forward to seeing him the next day.

We didn't bump into Jackson until later on in the evening. He stopped by our room and said he decided to stay one more day at the hotel (he has been here about a week). We told him we would meet him across the street at this "hole in the wall", but delicious food serving bar.

When we walked into the bar he was at the front getting into it with some of the workers. We pulled him outside, and that is when it hit us. Jackson was completely inebriated. He had on the same clothes as the day before and wreaked of liquor. He had extremely erratic behavior and he began to be insulting to me and P. Not wanting to deal with the drama, we left him there (parking lot) and walked back to the hotel to grab a bite to eat. We sure in hell was not going to eat at the place where he was insulting the workers (by this time they were associating us with him).

P and I ate in the hotel and then headed upstairs to the bar on our way to the room. Guess who we found... Jackson. He was tipping back the drinks so fast we couldn't keep up the count. We sat next to him... he initially gave us the cold shoulder but then came around and began to talk in depth with me.

Dissection:
Jackson is an alcoholic and addict. He has been drinking since the age of 8 and "self medicating" since he was 12. Jackson has always kept the company of current addicts or recovering addicts. He has alienated himself from family and friends. Being that he does have substance abuse problem, he is extremely moody and irrational at times.

While sitting at the bar I had chance to really listen to him. He was on the verge of tears as he talked about his life and addiction. He is so talented (artist and musician) but he is letting his addiction take control of him. He is a really sweet person internally, but no one will ever get to see this as long as he is feeding his addiction.

Jackson is scheduled to go to rehab on Monday morning (as soon as he gets back to Chicago). He is so afraid of leaving for 90 days and finding someone to take care of his dog. Everyone that he cares about is "giving him space" until he completes his rehab. He is so afraid and continues to drink heavily to "remove himself" from reality.

I am asking everyone who is reading this post to please say a prayer for "Jackson from Chicago" that God touches his heart and soul and guides him to rehab and creates a sober heart in him even beyond.

The End.

~GodpleasetouchJackson'sheart~