Tabitha's Story

Tabitha was born in Longmont CO. At five years old, her parents divorced and her father was given custody of her and her brother because of her mothers’ alcoholism. Her father moved them to Pueblo, Colorado where she lived until the summer before her sophomore year in High School. She moved back to Longmont to live with her mother.

Tabitha graduated High School with honors, but instead of going on to college she was married at age seventeen. When she turned twenty-one, she decided she was married too young and quickly divorced. She lived and worked with her mother and started going to the bars every night after work. She was introduced to drugs, such as, marijuana and cocaine. Since addiction was in her blood, she soon began to spiral out of control on drugs and alcohol. In her mid twenties, she was drinking and drugging daily, working at a bar part-time, and also trying to hold down a full time job with a respectable company. Daily abuse was the norm for her, and she started getting involved in bad alcoholic relationships. It eventually resulted in a suicide attempt. Her mother was diagnosed with COPD, so Tabitha spent time caring for her and feeling sorry for herself.

She met the father of her children in Longmont. He was an alcoholic and drug user, and in trouble with the law. In 2001, they moved to Rochester, NY to be closer to his family, who were respectable and loving people. They were welcomed with open arms, but because of their continuous drinking and fighting they began to lose their support. Their daughter, Samantha, was born March 2003 in Rochester and while Tabitha was able to maintain sobriety during the day and care for her, nighttime was her party time. Her addictions still had strong hold on her, and when her mother died that July, she had a hard time coping and her addictions took over. The day before Samantha’s second birthday, they moved back to Longmont.

They lived with friends for about a month and managed to save enough money for an apartment in town. She learned she was pregnant with twins in December 2005, and by the end of that month they were evicted for failure to pay the rent. The children’s father returned to New York to attend rehab. Tabitha and the children moved in with her grandparents. She secured a job, was working very hard, and maintained sobriety during her pregnancy. She applied for an apartment and was accepted. But, shortly before the boys were born, she allowed their father back into her life fearful she couldn’t raise three children by herself, and headed into the downward spiral of drugs and alcohol with him again.

In June 2008, a neighbor reported to the Department of Social Services (DSS) that she had gone to the bar and after sending the babysitter home, was intoxicated and caring for her children alone. DSS stepped in, and after she failed the drug and alcohol tests, her children were taken from her and placed into foster care. A month later, in a very emotional state after fighting with her ex, she committed assault and was arrested.

Tabitha found herself sitting in a jail cell all alone. Her children were in foster care, she faced felony charges, and her family wouldn’t accept her phone calls from the jail. Throughout her life, she never had a relationship with God; she would say that she was agnostic. The first communication she really honestly had with God was in that jail cell. Boulder County Jail allows persons of all different faiths to visit inmates and to minister to them. Tabitha started to attend every session. She had always felt like she was in a pit of mud and mire, with no one reaching out their hand in to pull her out, but she now knows that God knew she was in there and was waiting for her to call on Him for help. When she finally did, the hand of God was there.

After seventy-five days in jail, she was convicted of a felony charge, and received three years of probation; they released her from jail September 2008. She immediately began to attend church where she found new friends and a place where she was accepted and loved. She lived with her grandparents and started attending Alcoholics Anonymous. In January 2009, she became eligible to get her children back, but needed a place to live with them. She sought help from the Safe Shelter of Boulder County for housing and counseling.

By April 2009, she was attending Front Range Community College part time and was accepted to live at the Inn Between. Having a new home at the Inn, her children were returned to her. She knew she needed to complete a college education, but wasn’t sure if she would be accepted and able to afford it. She passed the Accuplacer exam, and the Inn Between granted her a scholarship to continue her education. Tabitha is presently attending Front Range Community College full time, and holds a 4.0 grade point average. She has been drug and alcohol free for over a year.

Living at the Inn Between made it possible for her to establish a new relationship with her family and children, and go to school. She has developed confidence in herself as a single mother, and in her future. Tabitha says she will always be thankful for the opportunity to live at the Inn Between, and for all the Inn did for her and her children.