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A couple of us seem to be coming down hard on Marta.

One of us wondered why Rush resorted to using his maid rather than a corrupt, compliant doctor as a source for his drugs.

A dear friend of mine became addicted to alcohol. I was one of the last to figure it out. When I did figure it out, I tried to help and ended up being an enabler rather than a true helper. I became very frustrated because I could not "fix" my friend.

Rush probably worked hardest at concealing his addiction from Marta. Marta probably was in denial about Rush's plight until the evidence became so overwhelming that she had to admit to herself that he was addicted. Then she probably tried to "fix" him. Hence, Rush's two unsuccessful journeys through detox.

My recovering alcoholic cousin advised me that I could not "fix" my friend; she would have to hit bottom and resolve to fix herself. She finally did hit bottom, went to AA, and, thank the Lord, is sober.

Marta may, in a way, be grateful for the humiliation of the "National Enquirer" article and the legal pressure of having police investigating. It got Rush to acknowledge his problem and check in to rehab.

All Marta and the stepkids need from us, right now, is our prayers. I'm sure she did the best she could under the circumstances.

As far as why would Rush use his maid as a source, it's simple: any port in a storm. The desperation of addiction reduces the wealthiest, most intelligent, most talented people among us to the level of common street criminals.

Nothing I may learn about Rush's behavior while addicted will particularly shock or surprise me....

Don't mean to be getting on Marta's case. You are correct he probably did work very hard to hide it from her.

It reminded me of a post I made on an earlier thread...I thought I'd respost it here for several reasons, especially the story of my friend towards the end of the post. Your story reminded me of it.

+++++++++++

From Mary Ellen Carter by Stan Rogers

and you to whom adversity has dealt the final blow
with smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go
turn to and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
and like the Mary Ellen Ccarter rise again

rise again, rise again
though your heart it be broken and life about to end
no matter what you'e lost be it a home, a love, a friend
like the Mary Ellen Ccarter rise again

As an aside I'd like to mention that earlier this year I lost a very dear, close friend to drugs. Shelly was only 40 years old, a very pretty blonde gal. My friends and I knew she liked vodka a little too much, and had been on prescription medication for a serious brain injury - inflicted by a boyfriend in an abusive relationship.

But apparently the medication - oxycontin - became addictive and she went in a downward spiral. Some mornings I'd find her on my porch beacuse she had no place to sleep. She only had a couple of changes of clothes, but after one of her binges on what we thought was booze some one would take her in and get her looking good. She used to joke about how she was a tramp but "didn't she clean up well."

She DID!

She was very smart and she and I would often engage in "intellectual amusements" that most folks couldn't understand.

But in February I got a phone call that she was hospitalized and it didn't look good. It wasn't. She had fallen farther to the temptations from the wild side of life. Needed a place to stay but didn't want to bother me or some others who tried to watch out for her.

Instead she went home with some druggies and they all partied with her oxys, sex and Lord knows what else. What did her in - and left another gal a total vegetable - was taking heroin through the eyeballs. Apparently they put it in eyecups and tossed it back.

The thing is she was lucid most of the time...kept her demons hidden. None of us knew she had fallen so far. Because of that I can see how the Rush story might have some basis in fact, and he could have reasoned well and been lucid.

For all her shortcomings, I miss her very much.

prisoner6