• black and white photo of crowd of people sitting down
    Addiction

    These Are the Ones Who Fill This Earth

    “I lost another nephew.” My neighbor said as she treaded through the puddles in black. She looked weak, as if she carried the weight of that lost soul upon her. The heaviness in her heart was thicker than the humid air around us. And I could feel it. I could feel it because I had also just lost someone I knew. Someone who had grown up with my brothers. Someone who had once played hide and go seek with me on our beach vacation. And this someone loved the Lord very much. But this someone also struggled with addiction. And then one day, that addiction won. I didn’t know her…

  • brother hugging sister who just graduated
    Addiction

    The End of Addiction

    August 7, 2009 I was 18 years old. I was working the morning shift of my first “real” job at a clothing boutique, texting my friends about going to the movies after I got off. My boss stopped by to see how I was doing. She already knew. She didn’t say anything. I continued to blow up my mom’s phone, trying to get her permission to go to the movies. No response. I then received a text from my sister saying I couldn’t go, and she would be picking me up after work. Spoiled, stupid me responded that there better be a good reason. There was. That morning, all was…