MEMOIR
The Painful Reality: I’m Powerless To Save My Addict Friend
When helping someone is actually hurting them
“Help, I’m forty dollars short on rent, and my landlord is going to evict me.”
“I don’t get paid for two weeks. I’m screwed. I have to pay her today or I’m out.”
“Is there any possible way you can Venmo me?”
My first instinct after reading Brenda’s messages was to roll my eyes. I felt mean for doing it, but there she was asking me for money for the third time that month. She didn’t ask how I was doing or what was new with me. She never did. It was always about the Venmo and how fast I could use it to send her cash.
To be honest, I did give her money early on a few times. She sounded desperate, and in those days I still believed her stories. I couldn’t think of a reason why Brenda would lie to me. I’d known her since we were kids in high school. Of course, she wouldn’t ask unless it was absolutely necessary, right?
After the third or fourth time, I started to have questions. Why did she keep having crisis after crisis? If she needed money that badly, why was she asking for only thirty or forty dollars each time? How had her life gotten so badly out of control?
