Breanna

Gone are the days of Ozzie and Harriett, The Cleavers, and even the Huxtables. The Bradys, they were a sign of things to come. The blended family. Steps, half siblings, bi-racial, multi cultural. Even my own vanilla family is non-traditional, as I was married before. My son was mine before he was ours. It's all good. Family is a place, a feeling, not just a name.

This is why I called Breanna my family. She was my sister from another mother, and father, and planet. Now she's gone.

I'll start at the beginning. I have a brother, who is actually my half-brother. We never have thought of each other in this way, he is my brother, I am his sister. But to tell this story, that is an important detail. He also has another half-sister, with whom he shares a father. A father he has nothing to do with. And she was someone he did not even know until recently, when I found her. Looking to possibly bridge the expansive gap between my brother and his father, I went looking for his other half-sister. I did not find my former step-sister, but instead found Breanna. Breanna did not know Scott existed. That is so sad, isn't it? In any case, she and Scott began communicating. This was what I wanted, a bridge from my brother to his father, without actually forcing the issue. Breanna was the bridge.

Funny thing was, I liked her. She and I talked more than she and Scott talked. She was young and beautiful. She was wild. She talked tough, she was part of the hip-hop culture, had tattoos and talked "street", but she could not hide her sweetness or her smarts. You can just tell when you are looking at a "good kid", she was a good kid. I could tell she knew exactly what she needed to do to grow up and mature into a responsible adult, and that she was going to do it when she was damn good and ready, and not a moment sooner. I saw some of my brother in her, and some of myself at her age too. So what has happened to her is quite tragic.

She tried heroin. I can't wrap my mind around how anyone in this day and age can pick up a dangerous drug like that. I wish I knew what was in Breanna's head that day, what is in the mind of anyone with so much promise of a bright future that makes them decide to "try" something like that. I wish we could all know that, so we could stop it. It sounds simplistic, but it really is that simple. I want to stop it.

It got her. It took her. Killed her. She was there, and now she is gone. It was so senseless. It is so heartbreaking. That bridge from my brother to his father is gone, but she was a bridge for so many others. She had family, and friends. A link in the chain of her life is now broken forever, and it will affect the lives of so many others, so many other chains broken. I will miss her, and wish her family peace and comfort.