The Beast never dies only sleeps
My best friend whom I have know for 40 years died last week. So smart and witty. Extremely generous. An MBA with a great career and home. But he struggled over all that time with addiction. Prescription pills and alcohol.
When we reconnected (since High School) in 2009) he had been sober that time for a half a year. We kept in touch every day for the past 7 years. All that time until last October he was sober. Always in AA and sponsoring.
But the Beast woke up last October.
Found passed out in his car in a parking garage in April. 30 days rehab. Back to AA. Totaled his car one week later. And last week he overdosed in his home. Unresponsive when medics arrived. They couldn't revive him. His son turned 18 just 5 days before that and his HS graduation is this weekend. He couldn't stop.
I love him and will miss him forever. The Beast lays waiting. It did for him but he thought he could contain it. It only died when he died.