On The Bus…Again

I have a friend that works as a contract civil engineer wherever he can find a job.  I am sure he does great work.  Unfortunately, he keeps relapsing on crack.  The intervals between relapses got up to a couple of years and are now measured in weeks or months.   I would guess he makes something close to $100k/year (when he works).  Nonetheless, he called me early this morning after two weeks with no contact to ask for a Greyhound bus ticket home from the Midwest.  I won’t send him cash, but did buy him a bus ticket.

He is 3 hours deep in a 36-hour bus ride to Seattle.  This is maybe the 4th bus ticket home I have bought for him.  He pays me back in a month or two.  His relapses are incredibly painful and not even close to being fun while they last, much less while enduring the acute stages of pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization.  It is a great chance for me to practice being a supportive non-judgmental friend.  It is tough to watch my friend do this to himself.  He is a high risk for suicide and cannot get this 800 pound gorilla off his back.  His pain does help keep me sober.


I am grateful for my sobriety today and for being able to be a better friend to others than I ever was before in my life.

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