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"If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way" ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.



What about Michael?
Posted by:Sally--Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Cisco is in an adult half-way house and I just got off of the phone with him.


He understood when I said I will give his money to the facilitator when I visit but not directly to him. He is going to an N.A. meeting tonight so we only had ten minutes to talk.

In that ten minutes I discovered something dreadful. It was awful news.

I told him I was looking into my 'crystal ball' and that his future shows promise. I see him at work and saving money to go on dates with pretty girls and maybe I even see him driving his own car in the future. He said he doesn't see that yet but I think he feels better about himself than he did in years.

We talked about some of his old friends.

Yes, I did hear that Bob got Tammy pregnant.
She is keeping the baby but they do not have plans to marry at this time.

He asked me if I heard about Michael? Michael was a kid that Cisco knew from back in middle school. This one piqued my interest because Michael's mother was my best friend when I was in sixth grade.

Maureen (Michael's mom) lived across the street and she was so fun loving and quite popular in those days. Her mom bought her clothes and shoes constantly where I felt lucky if I got one pair of shoes at the beginning of a school year. As for clothes, I did not worry because I was the same dress size as my older sister who had a good job and she left for the office before I left for school. I would sneak into her room as soon as she left and wear her stylish clothes and have them back neat and clean before she was the wiser. Even with this tactic, I could not keep up with Maureen. She had so many material things. Clothes, money, personality and many boyfriends.

I quit hanging out with her after a few years because she got heavily into drugs. She married, had three children and divorced. Her life spiraled downward. She lost her home because she could not pay the taxes. And now Michael. She lost him.

Michael overdosed on heroin.

DRUGS KILL PEOPLE.

After a long silence, Cisco asked me if I was still on the line. I cradled the phone closer to my ear. I spoke very clearly. I said:

I am glad you are alive, I am glad you are in a half way house. I love you.

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1 comment:

Joy Y. said...

I am very sorry for this terribly painful news, Sally.

I am reminded from the books I have been reading on addiction that sometimes, for someone like your son, hearing that an old friend (someone they were once emotionally connected to) actually died of an overdose is a major turning point for them. I pray that something good comes out of this for Cisco.

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