For years, Pete Soukus lived on top of the hill in Seattle’s wealthy Magnolia neighborhood that overlooks Interbay and Tent City 5. Pete still lives in Magnolia, but his new home now lies in the shadow of the hill, inside of Tent City 5. Until alcohol took over his life, Pete had a career in product management and supply-chain logistics, a home and a family. Then according to Pete, “I drank myself to the point of almost losing my life.”
Pete didn’t lose his life, but he lost his fiancé, his home and his job. He hasn’t seen his kids in years. He remembers spending one night hunkered down under a bush after drinking a bottle of hand sanitizer.
In the words of the immortal Janis Joplin, who sang Me and Bobby McGee, “Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.” Hitting the bottom might be a humbling experience, but there is a raw honesty that sets in when everything of material value has been stripped away.
Pete remembers a day, July 7th to be precise, when his despair exceeded anything he could manage and he was on the brink of suicide. He was in a ditch with a small black cat—who reminded him of his sweet cat Emma—he had lost with everything else. This cat came to him and sat on his lap and purred. He quit drinking for five days until July 12.
Through Sound Mental Health Institute (SMHI), he entered the Kitsap Recovery system and completed the program, but as soon as he got out on November 24, he drank again. On Dec 24, he had his last drink. He has stayed clean and sober for several months.
Pete Soukus: A Chance to Trust