By Donnell Royal
It seems like only yesterday that on one summer evening in 1979, my family was driving along Route 17 in Parksville, New York. There must have been 5 cars in our procession that evening. My family was traveling back to the camping grounds when suddenly, the lead car pulled over. At first, I was thinking that someone had to use the restroom. However, that was not the case because at that moment all my uncles exited their vehicles and began having an intervention for one of my uncles. We were standing across the street from what looked like a hotel or a low budget resort.
The conversation started off with one of my uncles telling my other uncle, “You need to get better with all that drinking and drugging that you’re involved in.” They went on to tell him that all the drinking and drugs was causing him to be unpleasant to be around. They were also discussing how his appearance had begun to diminish. Which was true because at one point my uncle was a dapper fellow when it came to his stylish taste for fashion.
The intervention lasted for about 30 or 40 minutes before it was over. Before the intervention ended, they pointed to the “resort” across the street and told him, “That’s where you need to go to get some help.” As we rode back to our camp site I couldn’t help but wonder why my family was trying to send my uncle on another vacation when we were already on one. I was 12 years old at the time, the age of my “Wonder Years.”
Fast forward to 2001, I was in the ‘entry’ phase of treatment at Daytop Village Incorporated located in Far Rockaway, Queens. I was feeling very hopeful and feeling quite optimistic about being in the process of restoring order in my life. A few days later my turn to begin my treatment had come and I was headed upstate to begin working on myself. I must admit, I was a little nervous about going upstate, however I was ready to begin my journey and start my healing process.
Finally, the day had come, and we were off to our upstate treatment facility. It was a two-and-a-half-hour drive. I was sleeping when we pulled up to the facility, and I was still half asleep as I exited the van. I exited the van and made my way out of the parking lot, located behind the facility. I casually made my way up to the front of the facility and I became overwhelmed with the notion that my surroundings looked sort of familiar, as if I had been here before. Still feeling a bit groggy and disorientated, I looked across the street, I had a creepy feeling. It was then that I came to the realization that I had been here before. As I gazed across the street, I then realized that I was staring at the same exact spot where my family conducted my uncle’s intervention. It was clearly a Deja vu moment straight out of the Twilight Zone, as I stood there in Front of Daytop’s Parksville facility. In the Back of my mind, I could hear the voices of yesterday. The voices of my uncles encouraging me to “get in there and get yourself together.” The whole experience for me was just another… Full Circle Moment.
