As a teenager, Pablo left his home in Puerto Rico because he couldn’t stand watching how his father treated his mother whenever he got drunk.
He moved in with his uncle in Holland, graduated high school, was married for 26 years, had three daughters. But, little by little, family history repeated itself: His own drinking started to tear apart his own family.
“To be drunk, to be hungover, the days just pass you by. You don’t even know what’s going on,” Pablo said. “I was aware of what I was doing, but I didn’t know why, because I had everything that I wanted — a nice house, good job. I had my car, a beautiful wife, three daughters.”
Soon, it was all gone. His wife divorced him, he became estranged from his daughters. He tried to escape his problems by moving to Grand Rapids. But the real problem was the alcohol, and it followed him everywhere.
“My life was terrible, and it got worse,” he said. Finally he swallowed his pride and turned to Guiding Light.
“They gave me a chance and the change in my life is unbelievable,” he said. “I hit rock bottom. I was in bad shape and God opened the door for me.”
Pablo speaks with pride about learning to be honest, about adding discipline to his life, about becoming part of a community from all walks of life but with a shared desire for lifelong sobriety.
And he described the profound experience he had on a silent retreat.
“At first, I thought, ‘Man, we have to be there four days without talking?'” he said. But he quickly came to appreciate the days of silence surrounded by God’s creation.
“I went into the stone chapel by myself to pray, and after went for a walk in the woods,” Pablo said. “I pretty much said, ‘God, just you and me now?’ And then I was talking to Him the whole time. It felt good to see all the nature, see the life you are missing when you are drinking.”
His awakening paid off this year at Easter dinner at Guiding Light.
“My youngest daughter came to see me,” Pablo said. “I hadn’t seen her in four years.”
“I was crying, and she was crying.”
“She said, ‘Papa, you look different, you look happy. I’m so proud of you.’ It opened my heart.”
He know he still has work to do to reconcile with his other daughters, but he is grateful for the possibility. “I’m 52 years old. This is my chance. I needed to change, and I wanted a new life and now it’s here.”
