By: ATTY. GIGI REYES
FAM Member
May 2009
EDITOR’S NOTE: Following is the FAM keynote address of Gigi Reyes during the 14th Graduation Ceremonies of SELF on May 23, 2009.
I was requested to give a few words tonight for the 14th Graduation Ceremonies on behalf of the families behind their loved ones who have spent some of the most meaningful, life-changing and memorable years of their lives in this facility. The request for me to speak on this occasion evoked so many memories and mixed feelings in me. Foremost was the disbelief that my son’s graduation was actually happening. I looked back and could not believe that it has been more than two and a half years since my own son, David, entered SELF in October 2006.
On the night David was taken from our home, I had to be given a tranquilizer to calm me down and help me cope with the emotional storm raging within me. The only thing that kept me sane at that moment and the ensuing days and months was my conviction that I was doing the right thing. This, after years of trial and error, hit and miss, and experimentation as to how to deal with my son’s addiction.
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