Ep.110 A Life Transformed: Aimee Vasile's Story of Recovery

In this episode of the ARCast, Booda interviews Aimee Vasile, who shares her powerful story of overcoming addiction and finding recovery. With five years of sobriety, Aimee discusses her difficult upbringing, her initial encounters with addiction, and the life-changing events that led her toward recovery. From dealing with family trauma to almost losing her life, Aimee emphasizes the importance of seeking help and the transformative power of recovery. Tune in to hear Aimee's inspiring testimony and her ongoing dedication to helping others on their path to sobriety.

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Transcript

Ep.110 A Life Transformed: Aimee Vasile's Story of Recovery

**Booda:** Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of the ARCast. My name is Booda and I'm in the studio today. You know, when we did a call a few weeks ago online for different people to come through and share their testimonies and she ended up hitting me up. It's been a huge blessing. I know she's working in the community. Doing fantastic things. Five years of sobriety already. She's a BHT, and RSS. Ladies and gentlemen, please give a huge round of applause to our new friend, Ms. Aimee Vasile. Did I say that correctly?

**Aimee:** Yes.

**Booda:** Alright, perfect, perfect. Good morning. How are you doing, Ms. Amy?

**Aimee:** I'm doing good. I'm doing good. How are you?

**Booda:** I am doing very well. Thank you very much for coming. Uh, so you've got five years of recovery already. That is fantastic.

**Aimee:** Yes. It's coming up on 6 in August.

**Booda:** On August. Congratulations. Thank you. And we gotta give a huge shout out to Miss Michelle Bailey. I know you're out there listening, Miss Michelle. She said nothing but amazing things about you, my friend. I hope you're doing good. How long have you known Michelle?

**Aimee:** I was just thinking about that this morning and 30 years, actually.

**Booda:** 30 years. Wow.

**Aimee:** 30 years.

**Booda:** So you guys went to school and everything like that together?

**Aimee:** Um, no. No. No. But we had friends in common that did.

**Booda:** Oh, okay.

**Aimee:** Yeah.

**Booda:** That's really cool. What a blessing. It's amazing to see how good she's doing too. And, um, have you guys gotten closer since you guys are both in recovery now and things like that?

**Aimee:** Yes, we are like family.

**Booda:** That's awesome.

**Aimee:** We have been like family and we will always be family.

**Booda:** That's a beautiful thing. Praise God. Are you from Tucson? Is that where you're from?

**Aimee:** I am. I am. Born and raised.

**Booda:** Born and raised.

**Aimee:** Okay.

**Booda:** And, and what about you know, just kind of going into your story a little bit. How was your childhood? Did you have, were you an only sibling? Did you have any brothers or sisters?

**Aimee:** Uh, I had a younger brother and sister.

**Booda:** Younger.

**Aimee:** Younger brother and sister. And I was raised by my mom and my stepdad. Um, so I think I had a better environment with my grandparents.

**Booda:** Yeah?

**Aimee:** You know, they were, they were the solid foundation in my life and, uh, people that really, I knew that they loved and, you know, wanted to take care of me.

**Booda:** Yeah.

**Aimee:** There was a disconnect between me and my parents and my brother and my sister growing up.

**Booda:** How much older, if you don't mind me asking, are you from your other two siblings?

**Aimee:** My little sister, about three, four years, and my brother, 4, 5 years.

**Booda:** Yeah, that's a significant difference in age, you know, cause my brother and I are around the same. So you're on a whole nother level four or five years advanced, you know?

**Aimee:** Yeah.

**Booda:** And as far as, you know, I know you said that your mom and your stepdad, was there ever a relationship with your biological father?

**Aimee:** So I never got to know my biological father until I found him when I was 20. And then I met him. I think in, uh, 2003, and I knew him for quite some time, but he ended up dying in Hurricane Katrina.

**Booda:** Oh, really?

**Aimee:** Yeah. Yeah. So it was really suddenly him and his wife, her girlfriend, they were leaving, you know, to get out of the city. They were going down to Florida and they, they just never made it. I never got a phone call back. So.

**Booda:** Oh my gosh. So they weren't even, they weren't even living there. Nothing. They...

**Aimee:** No, they were living in Biloxi, Mississippi. That's where my dad was living. Yeah. So I got to know him for, you know, five years and got to go out and meet him and got to be in his environment. And, you know, we had a great relationship for those five years. You know, having that in my life really healed a hole because my whole life growing up, I needed him, you know, and I never had him. So just being able to find him in the end and have that relationship really did a lot to heal my heart. I'm grateful for that in the end.

**Booda:** I can only imagine. I can only imagine. And what was, you know, the reason, if you don't mind going into that, of why they separated in the first place? That seems like a big gap.

**Aimee:** Well, my mom always talks very negatively about my father and all. Um, the things he did to her and how their relationship was not healthy. And she always made it clear from the very beginning that she didn't really want me to have anything to do with him. Um,

**Booda:** Wow.

**Aimee:** Yeah.

**Booda:** Okay. And, and, and I can only imagine, you know, I, I, I think every, Child, of course, of course, it's like if you grew up without a missing parent, there is a hole there. You know, and I want to touch base on that a little bit more as we go into your story, you know, but, um, growing up, you know, with your mom, your stepdad, as far as like schooling and stuff goes, were you a good student? Were you doing pretty good?

**Aimee:** Um, yeah, I think I did good for the most part. I was very smart. It's just, you know, when I wanted to dedicate my time and my focus to education because there was a lot of years, you know, Going through junior high in high school that I really just didn't care for school.

**Booda:** Yeah.

**Aimee:** So when I focused on school, yes, I'm very smart, but going through those years with all the turmoil and the ups and downs and, you know, abuse, it was really hard to, you know, all the time be focused on the things I really needed to be because I had to grow up super young. So, I was focused on, you know, taking care of my brother and my sister and making sure my parents were okay and the chores were done and the house was done and, you know, everybody else. So.

**Booda:** Yeah, it's a lot of responsibility. It always falls on the oldest kids too.

**Aimee:** Mm hmm.

**Booda:** And, and I know you said that, you know, we don't gotta go too deep into the woods, but I know you said dealing with different types of abuse, did you feel kind of a responsibility also to have to take care of your younger siblings and make sure nothing like that happened to them as well?

**Aimee:** Absolutely. Absolutely. When my dad would, or my stepfather, I call him my dad because, you know, I grew up with him. But whenever he would get upset with my younger brother or sister, I would get upset with him and in turn we would have an argument. So that way they wouldn't, you know, have to be subjected to that. I would, you know, kind of run interference between that.

**Booda:** Yeah, you stepped, like, right in the line of fire and took all the bullets pretty much.

**Aimee:** I did.

**Booda:** And, and was there any, um, growing up, was there any addiction in your family that you remember?

**Aimee:** So, not on my mother's side that I am too aware of. My biological father's side, I guess I heard that there was, but when I spoke to my dad, he said he didn't really know too much because my biological father was adopted. So he, yeah, so there's a whole like side of the family out there that I don't even know.

**Booda:** Wow.

**Aimee:** Yeah, like I'm, I'm going to do the Ancestry and the 23 and Me. I'm actually working on that right now because there is an entire side of the family that I know entirely nothing about.

**Booda:** Wow. And, and, okay, so. with your mom and dad, like when the biologically, I don't know if we touched on this, but what was the reason for their separation?

**Aimee:** I guess my dad was, you know, he was in his addiction at the time and it wasn't a good healthy relationship for both of them and it just ended badly between them.

**Booda:** Okay,

**Aimee:** so, um, he wasn't a very responsible person at that time, and it just wasn't a good, you know, a relationship. And he ended up going to jail, and then she ended up telling him to stay away from us, and then I never, you know, growing up, I didn't know anything about him.

**Booda:** It's so interesting too, like, you know, actually getting that picture of your childhood and things like that, because we, we talk a lot about, on this show, about generational curses, right? And generational curses, that's exactly what they are, is they continue from one generation on to the next. You know, you said that your father was adopted, but he had an addiction, right? So he probably felt that same hole on the inside of him that you felt growing up. And then, you know, parents, you know, you grow up, you're trying to have some sort of a healthy establishment in the nurturing environment for your young babies, and then things don't work out, and then it creates another hole in another generation. It just passes on down like that.

**Aimee:** Yeah, it sure does. Yes, it sure does. I have worked so hard to make sure those generational curses do not persist in my family.

**Booda:** Yeah.

**Aimee:** Ever since I have gotten clean and sober, I have made, you know, healing a top priority. Now my family, my kids, my grandkids, they are all number one. And I will make sure that my grandkids will never have to go through the things that, you know, I had to go through growing up.

**Booda:** Yes, ma'am. Yes, man. No, that's a beautiful thing. And, and, and now looking at it in hindsight, you know, from back then, do you feel like that's where the majority of all of the issues and everything in your life started was initially from that, that break in your family of your dad not being there. And then the, you know, and, and I feel the same way too, because my mom and dad, you know, they went through the same type of thing. And there's this hole that you feel where it's like, you see your mother's personality traits and your sibling's personality traits, right? But there's always something inside of you that just doesn't match up, or where do I get this from? Or like, you know, and then you start getting older and you're like, it's crazy. We have a lot of people come in here and they tell their stories and they say that it wasn't until they're older and the situation happened or something where they realize like they kind of look at their parents. Maybe, maybe when they were younger, they thought of them as monsters or they had issues with them, but then they start seeing them as human beings because they start taking on a lot of those personality traits they didn't know where they came from. Does that make sense?

**Aimee:** Yes. Yeah, it does make sense.

**Booda:** And as far as, uh, you know, high school and things like that. Did you graduate? Did you go to college or anything?

**Aimee:** Um, I did. I graduated when I was 16. Um, I got my, yeah, yeah. I was pregnant with my son. So I went and I got my oldest son. So I went and I got my GED and then I went to college for a little bit and became a medical assistant and went to beauty school and stuff like that. But it wasn't until, you know, when I got clean and sober that I really discovered what I wanted to be. And that's, you know, being a recovery. Like my whole life, I never knew what I wanted to be ever. Except for a lawyer. Like, I could argue anything with you. You know what I mean?

**Booda:** All day.

**Aimee:** But I didn't want to go to school for that. You know, I'm not interested in that. But when I found out what a recovery support specialist was when I was going through rehab, I was like, aha, you know, it was that epiphany that, okay. That's what I meant to do. And I've just, I followed that course and here I am today.

**Booda:** So many people feel like the trials and tribulations, everything that they're going through in life is like this horrible curse. Like God is this, uh, this mean person with the magnifying glass, right? With the sun, like trying to mess them up. But honestly, it's not until you get out of that where you realize, like, sometimes God's preparing you for right where he needs you to be.

**Aimee:** Right, right.

**Booda:** And, and, and for you, when did the addiction start, Miss Aimee? Was that in high school?

**Aimee:** So, I was, let me think, it's, it was like 12 or 13 years old when I started using methamphetamines.

**Booda:** Wow, 12 or 13.

**Aimee:** Yes, my best friend growing up, her mom was a huge dealer for all the bikers. So I was doing it before anybody, you know, was really doing it. And that was a, yeah, it was a big deal. Um, that was, that kept me, you know, I dealt with that all the way until I was 39.

**Booda:** Was there a fear or respect, uh, from the substances, you know? I mean, jumping into something like that so young, were you ever afraid that something could happen to you? Or was it just like an escape?

**Aimee:** It was always an escape. It was always a way out, you know. There was just so much going on inside that I didn't want to or have the capability to deal with, you know, as a young girl and as a teenager with no coping mechanisms or I didn't know all the things that I know today. So as a child you're you're very stuck in your own head, and when you don't have a healthy way to let that, to let that out, you do, you get messed up on drugs, and then that just, you know, takes you down. Takes you down that path of, you know, this, that's what you continue to do and you don't stop using and you don't realize until like now I realize the whole time I was just killing myself.

**Booda:** Man, looking at it now. Like, how are you able to survive in school to grad, not only graduate early, but like you said, you had a son. You know, uh, did pe- were people aware other than like your close friends, that you had a, a problem or were you able to hide it?

**Aimee:** No, like my family, my friends, it, it was all very, you know, obvious. Like my family knew from, I, from, you know, seven years old that I had issues. I was put in counseling at a very young age and, you know, the therapist was always great, you know, working with me. You know, she did a great job. It was always, um, my parents that she had a hard time or they, because there was numerous different agencies and P- and counselors and therapists, you know, they would do great with me and we'd talk about it, but when it came to dealing with my parents, they couldn't deal with them.

**Booda:** Yeah.

**Aimee:** They saw from the whole time. You know, from the very beginning that, you know, Oh, this is why Amy is having problems because, okay, her parents cannot even talk these things through in therapy without getting mad.

**Booda:** Yeah. Oh man. Yeah. That is a, that's a huge thing. Yeah. That is a huge thing. I'm curious to know, this is just, you know, me asking personally, because, you know, I have a baby girl right now who's 12 years old going on, my Lord, probably 35, right?

**Aimee:** Yeah.

**Booda:** And one of the, I wouldn't even call it a generational curse, but one of the things that I received from my mom that I think is an amazing trait is my mom does not take shit from anybody. She's stubborn. She fights for injustice on herself and for other people around her, right? And she never takes no for an answer. I had that, right? Hardhead and my daughter has got those same traits. So, you know, we've, we've talked about, you know, getting her into therapy where she can talk to somebody or whatever because it is important for people to be able to have that outlet. You know, if she hasn't found the right sport that she loves to do yet or anything like that. And I mean, I, I try very, very, very hard, especially growing up like in a Mexican household. Like, I know what it's like to be verbally abused and like, you know, had just all the shit thrown at you. I really, really try hard. But my question to you would be for anybody who's thinking about putting their children in therapy. How do you balance it where you can make it a healthy thing for them and not have them feeling like they're labeled a certain way? You know, because I feel like there's a, there's kind of a, what is the word I'm looking for? Um, it's like, uh,

**Aimee:** Um,

**Booda:** Like a

**Aimee:** Stigma?

**Booda:** Stigma.

**Aimee:** Yeah, there's like, there's like a stigma of like you go to therapy, there's something wrong with you but. That's not the case. I, 

**Booda:** I see my daughter's strengths and her stubborn assness as a, as a superpower. I feel like, but just like Spider Man or something, she's got to learn how to keep it contained. Right. So that's why I'm asking, like, what do you think?

**Aimee:** You know what? There is not, there was a lot of stigma and I guess there is still, but there's a lot more people with open minds nowadays. Like there are so many people going to therapy that it, you know, it's, it's, it's really all over the place, and I'm really happy to see, you know, that, because everybody should be going to therapy or something, so.

**Booda:** Making sure, just keeping it open, you know what I mean? I guess that's kind of the thing, because that's just the biggest thing, is that I don't know how many kids do that, I don't know how many, but I know we've been looking, and it's hard, especially where we live, it's hard to find somebody who speaks to adolescents like that. Yeah. Unless they, because I was like, I was a member of Kodak, right? And I would go for like my behavioral health stuff, but man, I swear walking into those lobbies and sitting there, I felt like I did not feel normal. I felt like, oh, maybe there's something wrong with me because this dude is out of his mind in this, you know what I mean? So it was like very hard to kind of feel like that, that, uh, that balance of like,

**Aimee:** Yeah.

**Booda:** Okay.

**Aimee:** You know, especially for little kids, there are, there are other agencies where it's not so much as like a Kodak based place where, you know, so they have like, um, other places that are for, you know, young kids. Younger people, but I get that, like, but everybody has their own issues, you know what I mean? Some people's are just a little bit worse than others, you know? So it's on a big range, you know, some people are, you know, need this, but other people need all this. So, you know.

**Booda:** Communication, right? Just being open and yeah, that's, that's cool. Approaching every situation with love.

**Aimee:** Yes, everybody is on a case by case basis.

**Booda:** Yes, absolutely. So, you know, going back to your story, you know, you, you went through this addiction for a long time. You said, uh, forgive me if I'm wrong. You said that you just went all the way up until your 30s?

**Aimee:** Yes, I was 39 when I got clean and sober.

**Booda:** 39 years old.

**Aimee:** Yeah, and let me tell you, it was, It was a crazy thing. So, I had a really bad overdose, and I almost died. And it was really, really scary to, you know, well, I didn't realize what I was going through until I woke up in the hospital. And then, I was like, oh, wow, but, You know, going through all that, um, I didn't realize how bad it was, and so I left the hospital AMA, like right after they had finished bringing me back. So then I ended up going into like a psychosis, and thank goodness I was with, you know, some good people that actually did care about me because they took me to the hospital and they dropped me off. And I got, you know, seen. And then they actually transferred me to the real hospital because I needed to get medically stabilized because I was just not in a good place mentally. So, um, or physically. So I spent, you know, a couple of days in the hospital before I got released from there. And then I was lucky enough to get accepted into rehab. So.

**Booda:** And that whole time? From your adolescent age until when the overdose happened, was that the first time in your life that you ever had an understanding of like, sobriety, that there was a place that you could go to? Had it ever crossed your mind before?

**Aimee:** Yes, it had crossed my mind, but I, and I had wanted it. You know, it was always a battle internally.

**Booda:** Yeah.

**Aimee:** I wanted to be clean. I wanted to be clean and sober, but then I would always, you know, get that clean and sober time and then I'd relapse. I'd want to use, and then I'd go relapse. So it was always an internal struggle going on within me and it wasn't until, you know, this major incident where I almost lost my life that everything changed.

**Booda:** You know, touching on a little bit of a little bit of that timeline in between the adolescence to when the overdose happened, I know you said when you were younger that you had a son, did, were you, were you married at the time when, when this was going on?

**Aimee:** No, I wasn't married. I was only 16 years old when I got pregnant. My mother was very insistent that I give him up for adoption. So much so that my mom and my stepdad actually went behind my back and went and told the father of my baby and his, parents that if they didn't push him to push me to give up our son for adoption that they would go and push charges on him.

**Booda:** Wow.

**Aimee:** Yeah, and that was, you know, and I just found this out actually this last year because I didn't really know what had happened. I thought, you know, in the beginning he wanted this baby and we were great. And then all of a sudden he was pushing me to give the baby up for adoption. I didn't understand why. And, and, um, so it caused a lot of trauma for me. I didn't want to give my son up for adoption, especially, you know, when I was pregnant with him and he was having problems growing inside of me and then I went to get non stress tests done and then I had to have him early because he wasn't doing well inside of me. So I gave birth to him prematurely and he was in the NICU for quite some time and you know there, there was a significant amount of that time where he almost died and was very close to death and, and, um, you know, I didn't sign his adoption papers until the day he left the hospital because, you know, if he was going to die, he was going to die mine. And I was going to bury him because he was my son. And even that day, signing those papers, you know, even now, looking back, I think, and now knowing everything that happened, I don't know in some ways. I'm like, hmm. Maybe I saved him and my kids from going really through the bad parts. But then again, I'm like, but if I would have just kept him from the very beginning, would I have even gone through all the rest of that?

**Booda:** Yeah.

**Aimee:** Because while I had gone through some significant trauma before that it was really being forced to give my son up for adoption, that really sent me on the downward spiral.

**Booda:** The, the most amazing part about, you know, a testimony being shared is you never know. I mean, we've had so many different stories in here and they're all uniquely different, right? So you never know how your story can relate to other people and how it can help save other people. But I'm so curious to know, too, when you said that your stepdad and your, and your mother had gone and talked to this gentleman's parent, was he older than you?

**Aimee:** Yes.

**Booda:** Okay, so they kind of used it against him, like, hey, you, you know, you know, you, you, if you don't do what we're telling you to do, we're going to make your life hell, essentially.

**Aimee:** Yes. And it's very, you know, looking back on it now, it's kind of, it's very hypocritical because just the year before that I was, then I was with, my baby's dad. I was with someone who was older than him and it was approved by my parents.

**Booda:** Wow.

**Aimee:** Yes, so.

**Booda:** So it was the fact that it turned into and I mean it's so crazy because the times, the generations changed like my wife and I talk about this all the time like so many people back there were so worried about what everyone thinks. Like it's so crazy to think about that. And, and he never, he never hinted or gave you any type of an understanding that that's what was going on. He just one day was like, we're not doing this. I can't do it. You gotta give him up for adoption pretty much.

**Aimee:** I do remember him, you know, trying to talk to me about it. And I was just not having it in the very beginning. I remember us getting into a huge argument over the phone about it and, you know, me storming down, like leaving the house, storming down the street. And it was this big old thing. And my dad and my parents had to come out and get me. So yeah, no, it was, I wanted to keep him. And, um, now that I know everything that my son went through and with his family it's. It's very heartbreaking that my son and me had to go through that when it could have all been very different. From the very beginning.

**Booda:** So you've kept tabs on him, like you over, over his years and everything like that?

**Aimee:** Yes. It was an open adoption, so I always knew him and he always knew me.

**Booda:** Wow.

**Aimee:** I, I always got to see him.

**Booda:** Wow.

**Aimee:** That's, I got pictures and letters and, um, now that he turned 18, we started getting in touch and hanging out as a family. And now, you know, I'm very close with him.

**Booda:** Good. Praise God. That's awesome.

**Aimee:** Yes. He's married and I have a one year old grandson by him and my daughter in law and they're doing very well. And it's good. It's good to have us, you know, together as a family.

**Booda:** Yeah. Man, I'm so sorry to hear that part of your story because you know, all I think of is, is a, is a, is a young woman who's just going through pain and then you have that added stress on your life. I mean, it, you know, you hear so much about my, my sister in law works in the NICU, right? And you hear so much about how the stress and the addiction and all of these things that the woman is experiencing during her pregnancy, they affect the child, you know? I mean, you never know, you know, and, you know, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm sure a lot of children that are born prematurely are due to a lot of, you know, external circumstances like that. Because your body's trying to create this nurturing environment, but you're not even in a nurturing environment yourself, mentally, physically, spiritually.

**Aimee:** Yes.

**Booda:** And man, so that sent you on a downward spiral. Were you ever married or anything like that?

**Aimee:** Yes, um, I'm actually married right now. Me and my husband just celebrated our 21st anniversary.

**Booda:** Congratulations, brother. If you're out there listening, man, congratulations to you as well.

**Aimee:** Um, together for 24 years. So yeah.

**Booda:** That's really cool. And, and was he, was he an active role in helping you get clean?

**Aimee:** He has always been there to support me. You know, through the whole journey, it was always me, you know, that was messing up and he always had my back no matter what. So, yeah.

**Booda:** That's cool. And, and going back, you know, five years and some change, you know, you had this overdose. Were you ready? Were you finally ready or were you reluctant at first?

**Aimee:** You know what, in the beginning I was worried that I wasn't, you know, a hundred percent gonna be a hundred percent ready. I was always worried that, you know, I would get out and something would happen and, and I would make the wrong decision. But I think I've always known that I was ready, but I was scared.

**Booda:** Yeah.

**Aimee:** And I think that's how I knew I was ready. I don't know. What I went through and experienced, I never experienced something like that personally. And let me tell you, when I talk about going through a psychosis, it's not what you would automatically assume. God kind of took me on a journey. He kind of showed me, you know, 'Hey, Amy, you went down this path and you, but you can turn it around. And if you turn it around, this is what I'm going to give you. And, you know, you're going to have this kind of an amazing life.' And so it's a long, it's in detailed, I'm working on a book about it.

**Booda:** Oh man. I want to hear, I really do. Like I was just about to say, we need to go into that a little bit more because I feel like God was ready at that point to pull you from the fire. Right?

**Aimee:** Yes.

**Booda:** I'm curious to ask this because this always seems to be similar in everybody's story is that there became a moment in the person's life where they cried out like they could not handle life anymore. It's like when you're right there at the edge, you cry out. And that's like, right when you get saved.

**Aimee:** Yes.

**Booda:** Did you have a moment like that?

**Aimee:** Yes. So when I, you know, after I had the OD and when I was going into these hallucinations, you know, um, I, I was scared. I was scared out of my mind. Thank goodness I had left the other person, the people that I had been with, when I had the OD, and I was with a new group of people, because these people, you know, while they were using, they actually did care about me.

**Booda:** Yeah.

**Aimee:** So thank goodness I was with them, and they actually knew, hey, you know, Amy, do you want to go to the hospital? We want to take you. Do you want to go? Yes, I want to go. So they took me to Palo Verde. They dropped me off.

**Booda:** Oh, man.

**Aimee:** And then Palo Verde had me transferred to TMC because I just, I needed that level of care. So.

**Booda:** And what we're, because I mean, it's, it's so, I do feel like when we're in our active addiction, when it's that bad, when we've, it's because we've, we've almost, I mean, some people may not agree to this. Maybe, I don't know if you do or not, but I feel like you open up portals to almost like demonic dimensions, other things, you know, where you were able to see certain stuff. So you say you were in the psychosis. When do you feel like you had that experience with God? Like, that he spoke to you. Was this in like a coma, in like a, in a, like a comatose state or do you remember when that happened specifically?

**Aimee:** Yes, I actually have my medical records and you can read it in my records. It says the patient is talking to grandparents.

**Booda:** Wow.

**Aimee:** Yes. Yeah. It's, it's very, I wanted to bring them with me to show you so we could talk about it, but I don't know where they're buried right now.

**Booda:** It's okay.

**Aimee:** But yeah, it's very, it's when I got the records afterwards, because, you know, I remembered bits and pieces, but I wanted to really see for myself, I was like, Oh, wow. You know, they documented this stuff. They were actually evaluating and watching me and.

**Booda:** Wow.

**Aimee:** So like the things that, you know, they, that are in my medical records actually correlate, like with the memories that I have of the things that I experienced in the psychosis. Yeah.

**Booda:** Wow. And, and you said that he literally. Just like a TV show, like he took you through and showed you what your life could be.

**Aimee:** Yes, it was all very audio and visual hallucinations that I experienced for, like, three days.

**Booda:** Man.

**Aimee:** It was very intense and very, like, I think I, I experienced past lives in there, too. And, I mean, Very intense. I honestly feel like my entire life was guided down this road for a reason. I am actually in the process of, you know, getting my own sober living up and going. Okay. So I feel like my entire life I've been, you know, in this process and now because I'm going to help so many others.

**Booda:** Yeah.

**Aimee:** You know, I honestly feel like I'm that is why I went through all of this.

**Booda:** When you do finish your book and all of those things, we have to have you back for part two so we can talk more in depth about some of those things that you experienced. Because I feel like those are, those are the things I personally love hearing because I'm such a faithful person. Like, I, I, I like hearing when, you know, the higher power, whatever it is, step, step two or three, you know, for, for whoever it is, you know, whatever it is, like, it's like it changes them, you know, when the time is right.

**Aimee:** Yes.

**Booda:** What was your sense of faith growing up before any of this type of stuff happened? Did you ever have faith in your life?

**Aimee:** Yeah. I've always known and felt God. He has never left me. He has just become more present. You know, as I have shown a better, uh, chosen a better direction in life. Now my, my gut intuition is never wrong. Like the feel, the things that I feel are usually 99.9 percent accurate for a reason.

**Booda:** Wow.

**Aimee:** So, and, and it's all because I chose to listen to him and, and follow his path.

**Booda:** That's incredible. That's absolutely incredible. You had this, almost like an outer body experience type of thing, right? When you woke up, and you were back to where you needed to be, was it pretty much like, I'm ready, I'm done after that? After you had that experience, you were just ready to go?

**Aimee:** I was ready. I was done. I never wanted to go through anything like that again. It was a huge wake-up call. Exactly what I needed. Completely changed me as a person. If you ask any of my family or my friends, they'll tell you I'm a completely different person than who I used to be.

**Booda:** Wow. And how was, how was it going through and, and you know, the whole experience of the rehab? Did you learn a lot about yourself and a lot about the trauma and the reasons for why?

**Aimee:** Yes. I took what my case manager said to heart when she told me, "You need to go in there and, you know, just treat this as a vacation, but a vacation for your mind, your heart, and your soul," you know. So I woke up every morning with the intention to learn every single thing that I could and to take it to heart and to take what everybody else said, no matter how I felt about it, and at least listen to it because there had to be some level of truth to it. So I was very, very open to and honest and willing for, you know, help. And I, that's what I did every day. I came with that kind of mentality: I'm here to learn. You guys are the professionals. You guys know what it takes. Give that to me. Show me. So I completed every single kind of therapy that you can imagine, DBT, CBT, ACT, EMDR, I mean, there's just so many of them out there.

**Booda:** Yeah.

**Aimee:** I've done that. I've, um, done a lot of training now, you know, I'm an RSS, but I've also done all the other trainings, the forensic peer support, you know, and I'm still, I want to do more.

**Booda:** Yeah.

**Aimee:** You know, I'm not done yet. I'm just getting started.

**Booda:** That's powerful. That's so powerful. And, and, you know, I'm very curious since then, you know, we're talking five years and some change now, right? It's going to be six in September, you said?

**Aimee:** In August.

**Booda:** In August. Okay. How have the relationships in your life changed since then?

**Aimee:** Dramatically. I have amazing relationships with every single person in my family that, you know, are core to me. People that are important to me are amazing. Me, my husband, my kids, my family, my grandkids, you know, our family, we're great.

**Booda:** That's awesome. That's what matters. And you got more babies now?

**Aimee:** Yes.

**Booda:** That's awesome.

**Aimee:** I have three grand babies.

**Booda:** Three grand babies. Wow.

**Aimee:** But only by the two oldest. I still have three younger kids. I'm sure I'm gonna have a hand, you know, a whole bunch, by the time they're done.

**Booda:** Absolutely, and for all the listeners up there, there's a group going on upstairs, so if you hear a lot of noise, no one's in your trunk and all that, so just, I'm trying to take it off the mic, but if you guys hear it, that's all it is. But, no, that's fantastic. And, um, your parents, are they still with us? Or your mother, is your mother still with us?

**Aimee:** Yes, my mom, my stepdad, they're still with us. My kids see them every once in a while. You know, my mom had a stroke last year and I, I actually, I've reached out a couple of times. I, I have been trying. It's not that I have not been trying to, you know, mend our relationship, but, um, you know, there's only so much that I can do.

**Booda:** Yeah.

**Aimee:** You know, there's gotta be, she's gotta want that as well.

**Booda:** Absolutely. And then going back to, you know, the situation with your dad, how was that for you when you first got in contact with him for the first time? Were you, were you scared? It must have been a surreal experience.

**Aimee:** So the way I found him was pretty crazy. I emailed every single person in the AOL directory with the last name Smith.

**Booda:** Really? Every single person? Wow.

**Aimee:** Every single person. And it took months and months. Um, eventually it led me to an aunt, which led me to my dad's ex-wife, and my half-brother and sister, who I got to know a little bit. Which led me to my grandfather, um, the by the adoptive grandfather, though. Which led me to my father, but he called me, like, later that year on Christmas. And he, you know, I left my father with, or my grandfather with my phone number. So when he called me and I answered the phone, he's like, "Hey, Amy, do you know who this is?" And I honestly thought it was my probation officer at the time, right? So I was like, uh, Ted? He's like, no, this is your dad. And I was like, you know, blown away. I was mind blown. It was amazing. Yeah. So, um, my daughter's first Christmas, that was, this was the first time I ever got to speak to my dad.

**Booda:** Have you met him in person?

**Aimee:** I did. I got to meet him. Um, I spent a couple years talking with him, and then I went up to Biloxi, Mississippi and I got to spend a whole month with him and it was absolutely beautiful. Like from my bedroom window, you could see nothing but ocean. He lived right on the beach.

**Booda:** Wow.

**Aimee:** And beautiful. Yes.

**Booda:** Was he pretty open? Like, I mean, I'm guessing as far as the communication, you guys were able to talk and...

**Aimee:** Yeah, we talked about everything. He filled in a lot of the stuff that, you know, my mom didn't want to fill in or had left out.

**Booda:** Yeah.

**Aimee:** So I found out a lot more, um, of the things that, you know, I, that had been kept from me.

**Booda:** That's so interesting. And, and, you know, thank you so much for coming and sharing your story. I'm very curious, you know, building up to being able to come and share your testimony here on the ARCast. Was there something that you thought, you know what, I'm going to be here on the mic. I want to make sure that I get this out and I want to make sure I get this clear. Was there something that we have not touched on that you feel like you want to say to anybody who may be listening?

**Aimee:** Honestly, I just want to let everybody know that if you are searching for or you want recovery, it is out there. There are people like me out here and we just want the best for everybody. I just want to give my sobriety away to everybody that I meet because I spent so many years in so much pain and now I'm free from that. Now my life is beautiful. I've never been so happy and recovery is what made that possible, and I just want to give that to everybody.

**Booda:** Oh, that's awesome. Well, thank you so much, Miss Aimee. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Miss Aimee one more time. I want to thank you guys so much for the continued support. Remember, if you, a friend, or a loved one has a story, and amazing testimony, something that they want to speak here on the ARCast. Go ahead and check the show notes of this episode. All the links are going to be there, but until next time, man, thank you guys so much. Much love, God bless, and we will see you on the next one. Peace.

**Aimee:** Peace.