[Chicago Patty]

I have a friend named Jeff who has had a long standing relationship with
drugs. Jeff graduated from an excellent college twenty years ago and
got a wonderful govenment job. As time went on he become involved with
drugs, cocaine in particular. I dated him on and off for 7 years, when the drugs
got the better of him we stopped our dating situation. We did remain friends
throught the years and he became close friends with my daughter and my
entire family for that matter. He went into drug rehab 2 times this was provided
by his employer. I honestly thought that he had been clean the last 2 years...
I do know that in the last couple of weeks he had a slip here and there....he
hated to admit it to me. Jeff had his final slip Friday evening when he decided
to shoot heroin.....why in the world he did this is beyond me...he always said
that was the ONE thing he would not do. He passed away at 7:40PM.
I don't know how I am going to get through the next couple of days let alone
the rest of my life without my good friend. He was very depressed the last couple
of months and my family and I did all that we could to help lighten his mood.
Somethings you just can't help people with I am afraid. It is hard to imagine the
Holidays without him being there.....My heart is hanging very low today.....
please pray that my friend finally finds peace and that his immediate family
can begin to recover from their loss.