Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Troublesome info

On a lark, I did a search on judicial records on an old friend of mine. The last time I heard from him was about 15 years ago, so I looked in the county he lived in then.

During high school we were best friends. Read that drinking buddies. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but we drank a lot. Mostly while driving around. He dropped out of high school and I went to college. He went back and got his GED. I attended his graduation, his mother, father and step-father didn't (his father lived a couple of states away).

He dated a girl I knew. He told me once he wanted to break up because all she did wanted to do was smoke marijuana. When he was 20, my dad took him to get his driver's license, his own folks wouldn't do that (not sure how insurance worked then).

Not long after that, he and his girlfriend were cruising around in separate cars when she flipped hers. Together they headed for Georgia and got married (she was to young to marry in SC without parent's permission). They were gone for a week or two, then came home and had a church wedding. I don't know how long they were together, but it seems like only a year or two.

When I last talked to him, he was drunk or high. He had a new wife and lived in a trailer park.

Fast forward to today. I found 15 different arrests over the last 15 years. Domestic violence (3times), DUI (3 times), Driving with suspended license (9 times) and a fewother miscellaneous offenses were scattered through the years (mostly DUI & DUS for last 10 years).

Also, it looks like as of two years ago, he lived within 10 miles of me. I'm not sure if he's still there or not. I'm not sure if I want to know. I've always felt like if I had stayed close to him that either he would have straightened out or I would have ended up like him.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That is troublesome indeed. I had some friendships go the same way (not quite as extreme, but self-destructive nonetheless). Some recovered. Some didn't.

I regret not knowing the Gospel earlier so I could have shared it with them, but I do trust God's sovereignty - and I try to ensure I don't miss so many opportunities now.