From Dawn to Dust

I just got a call from my mom, telling me that my cousin, Dawn, died last night from a drug overdose. The weird thing is that I got an email from her last night for the first time in at least a year. It was just an invitation to communicate with her via instant messenger, but of all nights for her to send it...it's just weird. She died a few hours later.

Dawn and I were never close...she was two years behind me in school and hung out with a different crowd. She actually came up to me after my sister's wedding and told me that she didn't like me in high school because of my friends. It was news to me. But she was family and as such, I loved her.

She had a very hard life. Her mother and two nephews were killed in a car accident when she was still in high school, and her father, while a good man, was a mess. He turned to excessive drinking and couldn't be there for her. Her older sister, having lost her two children in the accident, wasn't emotionally available for her either. She couldn't deal with reality so so turned to drugs...it's been that way for her ever since.

She went down a really bad path and I always knew that this would happen someday. The sad thing is that it's such a waste of a young life. But on the other hand, this world wasn't making her happy, so I do believe that she is now in a better place. I hope that she finally finds peace with her mother, nephews, and grandparents in heaven.