Well, it finally happened...Mary is in jail.
I must clarify: I mean Montreal Mary (alternately known as Hilton Head Mary, Greek Mary, and The Ninth Wonder of the World.) Greenville Mary, on the other hand, is still stuck in the same unenviable position as me; i.e., pathetically single, flat broke, miserable job, living with her mom, and trying desperately to get back into school. (Yes, my tangled web of friends and aquaintances really IS a confusing mess.)
You would have thought that Mary's brush with death a few months ago would've served as the ultimate wake-up call. She was seriously banged up, but still managed to escape with her life from the twisted wreckage of that Camaro. Then, after all those new, so-called friends of hers turned their collective backs on her during her hour of need (Jolene and I were the only ones there when she came back out of surgery)...well, I'd say most people would have learned SOMETHING from that experience.
Not Mary, apparently. As soon as she regained full mobility, she was right back out there, running with that same crowd of crooks, frauds, liars, thieves, and other assorted miscreants for whom she cared so much. I wish I could say I didn't see this coming, but...
...sure enough, on Saturday she was in a car with one of these so-called 'friends' when they got stopped by the cops. He, of course, ran...and when all sorts of contraband turned up in the ensuing search of the vehicle, guess who took the rap?
She's now sitting in Beaufort County Jail, facing (among other things) charges of "possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute." Because of the seriousness of the charges and the fact that she's a "flight risk" on account of her Canadian citizenship, bail has been set at $25,000. And neither Jolene nor I (nor her parents, for that matter) have anything even approaching that kind of money...
Mary and I have been going around in circles over this for years now. God knows, I haven't exactly made the best decisions in my life thus far either. Let's face it, I used to be right there with her, doing all the same things, partying like there's no tomorrow. (Perhaps there's a sociological lesson to be derived here: when your entire existence is reduced to nothing more than an easily-replaced cog in the capitalistic-industrial machine, perhaps it's inevitable we'd turn to a nihilistic, hedonistic persuit of pleasure to mask the inherent meaninglessness of our lives. But I digress.) The fact remains, I never got sucked into that lifestyle as deeply as she did, and when I decided to clean up my act and get serious about my future...well, suffice it to say, she didn't.
How would you handle this situation? I love her with all my heart, and it tore me up inside to watch her wasting her life on drugs and bad company the way she was doing. On the other hand, she's an adult and is free to make her own decisions, and it's not like she was doing anything I'd never done. How can I tell someone NOT to do something that I've done plenty of times myself?
God, I'm a lousy friend. I'd make a perfectly AWFUL parent...
I must clarify: I mean Montreal Mary (alternately known as Hilton Head Mary, Greek Mary, and The Ninth Wonder of the World.) Greenville Mary, on the other hand, is still stuck in the same unenviable position as me; i.e., pathetically single, flat broke, miserable job, living with her mom, and trying desperately to get back into school. (Yes, my tangled web of friends and aquaintances really IS a confusing mess.)
You would have thought that Mary's brush with death a few months ago would've served as the ultimate wake-up call. She was seriously banged up, but still managed to escape with her life from the twisted wreckage of that Camaro. Then, after all those new, so-called friends of hers turned their collective backs on her during her hour of need (Jolene and I were the only ones there when she came back out of surgery)...well, I'd say most people would have learned SOMETHING from that experience.
Not Mary, apparently. As soon as she regained full mobility, she was right back out there, running with that same crowd of crooks, frauds, liars, thieves, and other assorted miscreants for whom she cared so much. I wish I could say I didn't see this coming, but...
...sure enough, on Saturday she was in a car with one of these so-called 'friends' when they got stopped by the cops. He, of course, ran...and when all sorts of contraband turned up in the ensuing search of the vehicle, guess who took the rap?
She's now sitting in Beaufort County Jail, facing (among other things) charges of "possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute." Because of the seriousness of the charges and the fact that she's a "flight risk" on account of her Canadian citizenship, bail has been set at $25,000. And neither Jolene nor I (nor her parents, for that matter) have anything even approaching that kind of money...
Mary and I have been going around in circles over this for years now. God knows, I haven't exactly made the best decisions in my life thus far either. Let's face it, I used to be right there with her, doing all the same things, partying like there's no tomorrow. (Perhaps there's a sociological lesson to be derived here: when your entire existence is reduced to nothing more than an easily-replaced cog in the capitalistic-industrial machine, perhaps it's inevitable we'd turn to a nihilistic, hedonistic persuit of pleasure to mask the inherent meaninglessness of our lives. But I digress.) The fact remains, I never got sucked into that lifestyle as deeply as she did, and when I decided to clean up my act and get serious about my future...well, suffice it to say, she didn't.
How would you handle this situation? I love her with all my heart, and it tore me up inside to watch her wasting her life on drugs and bad company the way she was doing. On the other hand, she's an adult and is free to make her own decisions, and it's not like she was doing anything I'd never done. How can I tell someone NOT to do something that I've done plenty of times myself?
God, I'm a lousy friend. I'd make a perfectly AWFUL parent...