I Just Found Out.

Wow. That's about all I can say. I just found out last night that two of my favorite cousins are having a really tough time. Really tough as in the 17-year old cousin ran away from home and hasn't come back in 3 weeks. And the other cousin, who is 16, is experimenting with several drugs and getting into a tough group of friends. The 17-year old wrote a letter to his parents asking to be removed from his family, "claiming" that he can just live with friends and live without his parents. I've never even thought that any of this would ever happen to this "normal" family.

Looking at the 16-year old's Facebook page reveals several marijuana and drug references and I can sadly see him going into gang life in the not so distant future. The 17-year old won't answer his phone. The parents know where he is, but they really just don't know what to do. I'm in the same exact position. I've been pretty close to both of them, but I never thought that any of it would go this far. The 17-year old is also experimenting with drugs and I'm afraid of what could happen to him if he continues down that path too far. He does talk to his brother (aka: the 16-year old) just about everyday, which I think is probably good for both of them, but I know that they also will not finish high school, not go to college, and regret everything that they're doing for the rest of their life. Maybe not right now, but eventually, I really think that they will. Beyond all of this, I know that these two kids can really be good and respectable people, but when drugs and depression dictate your life, it's hard to know what's right and what's wrong. Just looking at the 16-year old this weekend, I could see that he's really depressed and at a really tough time in his life. He doesn't look happy at all, which isn't typical of him at all.

I really hope that both of them will come out of this eventually. When peer pressure forces you down a terrible path, it's hard for them to turn back. I'm scared that they will start using more extreme drugs that will lead to their deaths. That's so frightening to think about. I don't even want to think about that at all.