Once an Orphan

My parents abandoned me when I was born and I became an orphan with the state of Connecticut. I lived in 14 different foster homes, boys’ schools and orphanages before I was 16. That’s the age I had my first drink, in Middletown, Connecticut. I ended up in the Connecticut River in a rowboat with one oar. I drifted down the river screaming, “God, get me out of this and I’ll never drink again!” That was also my first blackout. Things like that kept happening over and over. I was constantly bewildered and frustrated. This disease is, as they say, cunning, powerful and baffling.