Another addiction story.
A thirty-something woman - born in the United States - lived here all her life with her immigrant parents. For many years she was a wonderful daughter. And because the parents spoke no English she took care of their bank accounts. She made the house payment. She made the car payment and insurance payments. It was an arrangement that worked for a long time..
But then, somehow, the daughter was introduced to heroin. However, she maintained, not letting the habit get out of hand. Just chipping once in a while. Then one day the monster took control.
Soon she was draining the parents' bank accounts. Savings and checking dwindled to nothing. She stopped making the house payments. And eventually the bank took the home. But because the parents didn't understand much about America she was able to convince them it was a paperwork mess up with the government. And because they loved her and trusted her they accepted her story. She even had a story about what happened when the finance company repossessed the car for lack of payment.
Eventually, a relative tipped off the parents. But not in time to keep them from going broke.
After that the woman went to a detox and started on the road to recovery. In her wake though she devastated the loving people who trusted her with their life savings and home.
If she stays clean it’ll be a long time before she can afford to make amends. And even longer to rebuild the trust her parents had in her.
