rosarugosa
12-30-16, 9:32pm
In years past, there was a little girl names Alissa who meant a lot to us. My sister & her husband and DH & me took her on vacation with us to Newport a couple of times - with her Mom's approval, kept her out of school for a week and took her swimming and shopping and sightseeing. She loved to swim, and I used to call her our little mermaid. She was a pretty special kid, and I don't much like kids. She even told her Mom once that she knew she was special because I liked her. :)
Fast forward a bunch of years, and Alissa is a young woman with a small child and some issues, some serious substance abuse going on. Her Mom died of cancer last year, her psycho brother introduced her to heroin. Downward spiral, loses custody of her daughter, rehab, no place to go. My sweet, sweet sister takes her in.
Things seem to be going pretty well. My sister really loves this girl, and does everything under the sun to make her feel loved and supported. Drives her places, buys her things, urges her to make/keep appointments. Hung out like best buddies. Put up a Christmas tree and stockings, the first time in years. We had a really nice Thanksgiving together and Alissa was really excited about her new boyfriend and making the sweet potato thing with marshmallows on top. We did some local fair stuff together, simple fun at its best.
Two weeks ago today, my sister calls us sobbing at 3 in the morning, "Alissa's dead! The police just called, I'm leaving work now, she's dead in my apartment!" (My sister is an RN who works the night shift). We tell her to come here first so we can go with her.
Police detectives, kind neighbors, police tape around the apartment door, and finally our little mermaid in the bathtub, dead of an overdose. Accidental - she left a note saying she would take out the trash in the morning. Just tragic, stupid, awful, wasteful DAMN!
After the police left, I cleaned that bathroom with a vengeance - tub still full of water - Hep C + so gloves and bleach. Found a little packet of heroin (or fentanyl?) in with the cosmetics. Amazing - it just looks like freaking dust and it's killing all these people. Incomprehensible.
My poor sister is still dealing with all kinds of crappy fallout in addition to her grief. Expensive apartment complex and they haven't fixed the door that the police had to break down to get in, or the soaking wet carpeting.
I'm usually such an optimist, but I'm not feeling it now.
Thanks for letting me vent, SLF friends. I just couldn't post stuff about saving money on olives and building CD ladders without telling you all what was really going on in my world.
Fast forward a bunch of years, and Alissa is a young woman with a small child and some issues, some serious substance abuse going on. Her Mom died of cancer last year, her psycho brother introduced her to heroin. Downward spiral, loses custody of her daughter, rehab, no place to go. My sweet, sweet sister takes her in.
Things seem to be going pretty well. My sister really loves this girl, and does everything under the sun to make her feel loved and supported. Drives her places, buys her things, urges her to make/keep appointments. Hung out like best buddies. Put up a Christmas tree and stockings, the first time in years. We had a really nice Thanksgiving together and Alissa was really excited about her new boyfriend and making the sweet potato thing with marshmallows on top. We did some local fair stuff together, simple fun at its best.
Two weeks ago today, my sister calls us sobbing at 3 in the morning, "Alissa's dead! The police just called, I'm leaving work now, she's dead in my apartment!" (My sister is an RN who works the night shift). We tell her to come here first so we can go with her.
Police detectives, kind neighbors, police tape around the apartment door, and finally our little mermaid in the bathtub, dead of an overdose. Accidental - she left a note saying she would take out the trash in the morning. Just tragic, stupid, awful, wasteful DAMN!
After the police left, I cleaned that bathroom with a vengeance - tub still full of water - Hep C + so gloves and bleach. Found a little packet of heroin (or fentanyl?) in with the cosmetics. Amazing - it just looks like freaking dust and it's killing all these people. Incomprehensible.
My poor sister is still dealing with all kinds of crappy fallout in addition to her grief. Expensive apartment complex and they haven't fixed the door that the police had to break down to get in, or the soaking wet carpeting.
I'm usually such an optimist, but I'm not feeling it now.
Thanks for letting me vent, SLF friends. I just couldn't post stuff about saving money on olives and building CD ladders without telling you all what was really going on in my world.