This week I received the news. an old friend, a young friend, has passed away. Margaret and I became friends in Corpus Christi and she quickly became part of our posse. Milena,
Tiana, Cheryl, Margaret and I were a tight pack back in the mid 90's. we all decided to shave our heads and started a
faux gang of tough girls living in a neighborhood where we were the minority. Margaret was the youngest, and the most alluring of us all. she was a nanny, loved children and loved boys. she shot pool, danced and drank like a sailor.
when I was accepted to
PNCA in Portland Oregon I asked her to move with me. I thought a change would be good for her. she talked about starting school as well. so we traveled together with less than $1000 to start a new life on the West Coast.
as I started school and got a boyfriend, Margaret was bored, and idolized the cool skinny culture of Heroin users so proliferate in Portland. they looked like Waif's and started cool trends in music and fashion. We were room-mates for a while, then grew apart. she went down a path that I could not follow. I stayed in school and later moved to Seattle. Margaret remained in Portland where life for her took a turn. A
tumultuous road to say the least.
Last Monday 8-18-08 Margaret died from an overdose. Over ten years since she chose that risky path. but within that decade + she battled endlessly with the addicts life. she died with 2 young children, 1 year and 2 months old.
the last time I saw her was in 2002, and she was ecstatic that she had finally quite drugs, mostly, but had everything under control. Unfortunately her boyfriend was still using. I wrote, called and searched for her after that, but couldn't ever get in touch with her again. too bad, too bad.
so long young life
