We went to visit my mom’s best friend who is 90 years old recently. Her husband is 92 years old, and they look great! They rented the apartment over their garage to this woman who had two children. She was addicted to heroin. One day, she left and didn’t come back. After three months of waiting for her, they went into her apartment to begin cleaning it out. There were two cats in there who were still alive! They must have survived on toilet water and mice. No one knows for sure. There were bags and bags of used needles in the apartment. She was in bondage to this horrific drug.

One day after cleaning the apartment a few months ago, my mom’s friend fell down the stairs from the top landing. She woke up with her nose in the grass. She reached into her pocket for her cell phone and called her husband. He didn’t answer, so she called an ambulance. When they asked for her address, she couldn’t remember at first, but thankfully, she finally did.

Her husband had fallen asleep and suddenly heard a loud pounding on his front door. He went to answer and the paramedics said, “You called for an ambulance?” He told them he hadn’t and then a quick thought came into his head that maybe his wife had a heart attack. They found her at the bottom of the stairs. She ended up only having bruises!

Why did I tell you this story? For one thing, the devastation that heroin addiction has upon people can’t be underestimated. My cousin’s husband committed suicide due to what this drug had done to him. What happened to this woman’s children? She left everything she owned in that apartment! Heroin destroyed her life. Warn your children about the harm of drugs. It’s devastating.

The story about her falling down the stairs is just a funny story. Most people her age would have been killed falling down that many stairs. Most old people break bones easily and are too old to recover. She’s built of hearty stock, and she always has funny, unique stories to tell about herself whenever we visit her. My mom loved her. She loved my mom. When we were getting ready to leave, she told me she missed my mom with tears in her eyes. I told her that I do too, but we get to spend eternity with her on the new earth!

Lastly, when her husband was telling us something, she interrupted him to add something. He immediately scolded her and told her to let him finish talking. She humbly obeyed without saying a word. Most wives would say something or show some anger at being spoken to this way in front of others. She said nothing. Things like this don’t bother her. She doesn’t let things like this offend her or cause her to get angry. She loves her husband and accepts him just the way that he is. (I notice these types of things.)

The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
Psalm 90:10