When spring arrived, Reggie returned to Prince Edward Island.

His first attempt at starting over in Toronto had been relatively short. He had found legitimate work at a record and tape distributor and tried living on an ordinary income. But while he was there, his life had changed in a much more important way. Reggie was going to become a father.

His future wife had returned to P.E.I. after learning that she was pregnant. Reggie remained in Toronto for the winter before following her home in the spring. As he later wrote:

“I had some friends in Toronto, and I wanted to spend the winter there. When spring came around, I moved back to the Island.”

Becoming a Father

Their first child, a boy, was born after Reggie returned to P.E.I.

Reggie and his future wife rented a house and began building a life together as a young family.

From the outside, this might have looked like another opportunity for Reggie to settle down. He had tried working legitimately in Toronto, he was now a father, and he had responsibilities very different from those of his university years.

But Reggie’s own account shows that his life was moving in two very different directions at the same time.

Having his own home also gave him a base from which he began selling cocaine much more seriously. What followed would become an important new chapter in both his involvement in the drug trade and his own drug use.

Two Very Different Lives

Looking back, it can be tempting to divide Reggie’s life into periods when he was doing well and periods when he was not. His own writing shows that it wasn’t that simple.

Reggie could be working, studying or trying to build a family while drugs remained a significant part of his life. At other times, he could recognize the damage drugs were causing and make genuine attempts to change direction.

Those contradictions would become a recurring part of his story.

During these years, however, Reggie was still searching for something that might give him a more stable future. Education would soon provide another opportunity. His interests in electronics and technology would eventually take him to Moncton, New Brunswick, where he enrolled in the Avionics program at NBCC.

This time, Reggie would prove just how capable a student he could be.