Addicts

This week was a long, sad week. A friend/cousin-by-marriage died. He died from a drug overdose. It was a shock, but not unexpected. I am not going to write about him, though. I am writing today about my middle brother--a drug addict. My brother never smoked a cigarette until after he graduated from high school and in this rural area...that's a big deal. Maybe not now, but it was 20 year ago. I tell you this because smoking is normally the most common drug addiction.

My brother played football. He had many friends. He was always the funniest person in the group. Now, he is a broken down shell of his former self. I love him and I love to see him, but I expect him to be dead by 40.

He has 3 kids by 3 different women and the family never gets to see them. I feel sad for us, but I can't imagine how he lays down at night to sleep not knowing where his kids are, what they're doing, who they're with...I'm sure this fuels his addiction.

Normally, my blog is not a platform for sad stories and hard times, but today is a new day. A day I get to enjoy my life, my kids, my husband, and my future. I want that for my brother, too. I ask for your prayers and your advice on this problem that hurts my family, but is crippling my brother.

We have all tried speaking to him. We all pray for him. He has been to jail and stayed for enough time to be clean, but we all know how that goes, right? The riff-raff you meet in there leads you even farther away from getting help. Again, we are all at a loss. We just hope he finds his way back to us soon...or it may be too late.