Pat & Rachel
by Jeffrey Stockbridge
Pat & Rachel, Front and N Lee Street, 2012.
Edited Audio Transcript:
JS: How long have you been married?
Pat: Eleven years
JS: Can you tell me a little bit about how you guys met? And just a recent history.
Pat: We met by a mutual friend. And uh, that was, that was like uh, there was a lot of drug use there, like with friends and stuff but uh, like it was weird because its was like me and her had the same group of friends but never knew each other for like a couple years and then we met and uh, but…
Rachel: I wasn’t into drugs at all. I hated it.
Pat: Yeah
Rachel: I couldn’t stand it. I liked the drinking and stuff and uh… he was dipping and dabbing. After I got really close with him, I got serious with him, I was a little bit curious. And I started then also and uh, I don’t know, we fell in love, we got married, our drug use had slowed down, we had um, children. And then um, I got sick and got put on pain killers. It all rolled out from there again. You know and our addiction started back up and, with the heroin till at one point where we couldn’t even take care of ourselves, losing houses, I was dancing at the time, trying to uh… get us from job to job, I was dancing trying to keep a roof over our heads, and then we couldn’t even do that. We had these children to take care of too, it got to the point where you know, we called uh, Children and Youth on ourselves and gave our kids over. You know, like still to this day like we don’t know where they are and it kills me as a mother but I felt I was doing the best thing I could do for them at that time, give them a better life. But um… We’re just, it was the most selfless thing I could do, people say it’s selfish, but I thought I was doing the best I could. But, you, you know, like I was telling him, you get so involved in here that like with the drugs it’s such a, it’s like a dark cloud over your head and you don’t know how to get out or how to climb out sometimes. It’s like you try and get half way and you get pulled back down. You know.
Pat: Nothing else mattered.
Rachel: Nothing. Our kids didn’t even matter… You know um, sure you think about it and then you really start thinking about it, but not to think about it, then you get high, cause you don’t want to think about that stuff, you don’t want to think about the things, you don’t want to deal with them. You know, why I think the way I think, I don’t know. I don’t even have an answer for that. You know, we moved down here to Kensington and it’s like we’re stuck. We don’t know where to turn to… We know how to eat cause there’s free meals everyday but like where do we start out from to keep moving up? You know, we know what to do, but to do it, do we do it? No. Why? I don’t know. I have no clue why.
Pat: Well, I thought about, you know I think sometimes to myself, like just cause we’re addicts and we’re on the street and stuff doesn’t mean that we don’t know what’s going on like in the world and like with the way the economy’s going and everything else and like your regular everyday people that work day-to-day and have jobs and all that kinda stuff, how many of them you see out here that have lost their jobs, now their homeless, they’re on the streets and drugs got them, but it’s like… I listen to a lot of these people that are sober now or people that have never experienced drug use and their lives are hell. And lot of times I think to myself like, do I want to get clean so I can just live in a sober reality world of living hell? Like, because of like of my past and everything it’s not like I’m gonna go right to the top of the ladder. So, sometimes it’s like, wow, like why do I want to do, why go through all that crap sober? That, that’s going on you know. There’s no jobs, there’s you know, it’s like I don’t, I don’t, I don’t want to do it sober. It’s just reality, I don’t, I’d rather to just… deal with it this way, you know…
Yo its keith i how are you guys im clean 3 years I dont know how you guys are still down there
Pat it’s Christina..Sherri’s cousin..I have been clean for 4 years in August and you know where I stayed sober? North Philly..right off 30th and Allegheny..it’s possible..get your shit together..you should see your daughter and granddaughter..they are so beautiful..and you can always find your other kids..she that dope shit! It’s disgusting how many people I’ve lost and an still losing..
Hi Christina this is Rachel this was from2012 Patrick and I have been sober for two years if you read on the internet you we’ll see that that was from 2012 he just published it I believe this year Kasey is really upset about it she does not believe me at all I wish you would read a little bit more into it and see it’s from years ago
To everyone who is reads this this is Rachel I just want to let everyone know that this picture and the audio was taken in 2012 right underneath the picture it says that there are people that is thinking that it has taken this year and that we are still using but that’s not the case we have been clean and sober now for two years and doing very well I’m sorry if everyone had it misunderstood but that’s not the case and that’s okay also life has never been any better we are able to climb up out of that dark cloud finally
Thats amazing! Congrats!
That’s so good to hear. I love to hear success stories! Keep up the good work. Just use this as a reminder. I hope you guys can at least have a relationship with your childten. Everyone makes mistakes
So happy you too are sober! How did you get out? Tell us the story!
I’ve known those two for about 12 years, The one thing i will say is those two are as real as the come, Rachel is down to earth and does not mess with alot of people out there, she stays to herself and her husband Pat , but if she befriends you your a friend for life. Those two are the Bonny and Clyd of Kensington. Good people and friends