Day 1; Week 2
This morning, the front page story of our local paper was about drug abuse. Page 2 had a picture of my daughter with a short story about her use and suicide. I didn't know it was going to be in the paper (again).
When Krystin died a few friends told me tongues were wagging all over town and the talk was more meanspirited and gossipy than sympathetic. So the three of us (Hubby, daughter Becky and me) sat down and talked about sharing our story with the local paper.
We were not (nor have ever been) ashamed of our daughter or her addiction. We didn't want the town remembering Krystin like "a dirty secret". She was a beautiful young lady who had everything going for her - she just made REALLY bad choices. We were also hoping that by telling our story, it would create an awareness, people would talk about it and perhaps others could be saved.
Before learning of Krystin's drug habit, we had no idea that young people were using and abusing drugs EVERYWHERE. We didn't know that heroin had become the new drug of choice. We didn't know that our daughter was caught up in a society that accepted it as "the norm".
So, a week after her death and before the memorial service, our story was featured front page "Hidden Menace; Heroin abuse tears family apart" with a beautiful smiling picture of my girls together.
Anyways ... today's story is the first of a 3-part feature. In addition to this story, there was a story about a drug bust last month (5 people arrested - heroin distribution charges) and there was a story about a 23 yr old who was in a car accident (high on heroin), arrested, and sent back to jail for parole violation. She had been in jail for 2 years for theft and forgery ($10,000) stolen from family to support her heroin addiction.
In short - our community is now talking about drugs - people are becoming aware of the problem. This is a good thing.
Thats what I keep telling myself - this is a good thing - we accomplished our goal - but it was still hard to see this morning - it was hard to read - it makes it fresh again. I just want to disappear or move or something, anything - but I'm surprised - for the first time, I don't want to drink.