Today, while on a two-week vacation to Puerto Vallarta, I find another reason – besides the fact I’m relaxing in paradise - to be grateful for my sober life today.

This epiphany came about while I was talking to a 40 year old man named Jorge, who sells tours, timeshares, and other entertainment to tourists on a downtown corner. My discussion with him began when I complimented him on his superior command of English. His accent was more American than Mexican.

He spoke English so well because he was taken to the U.S. as a four-year-old, where he grew up in the State of Washington, As a teenager he began using drugs and alcohol. Eventually, because of ongoing legal issues, the authorities deported him after they discovered that he wasn’t a U.S. citizen. At the time he was thirty three years old, married to a U.S. citizen, and the father of two daughters.

“I wasn’t a very good person,” he told me. “I had a lot of chances. I deserved what I got.”

Still, it was a shock to be deposited in Tijuana, Mexico, with no money or resources - other than his grasp of Spanish. Eventually, he migrated south to Puerto Vallarta, on the Mexican Riviera, where his grasp of English helped him find work selling tours and timeshares to tourists. Today he’s married to a Mexican citizen and has three more daughters with her.

While he understands and accepts that his behavior in the U.S. caused him to be unceremoniously deported, he says life is a struggle today. He admitted he still “smokes a little pot” once in awhile - but plans to “give that up soon.”

His story made me grateful for the life I have today.