Dear addicted family members,

I cannot believe what you have done to your lives. You have chosen drugs and alcohol over you family and children, and I hope you know just how disappointed I am in you. For the record, I have stopped calling you "aunt" and "uncle", because those words no longer feel right coming from my mouth. We may be related, and you might still call me your niece, but you no longer feel like family. I miss the people you used to be, dysfunctional but still fun. Now you're all just strung out liars.

I know none of you will read this, but that's only because you've used up all of your money on your addictions and can no longer afford anything than a flip phone if that. I would print it out for you, but I'd have to visit some of you in jail to deliver it, and visiting you is not worth my time.

Constantly checking my wallet and making sure to always keep my purse and valuables with me were behaviors I was forced to learn at a young age, along with learning what the words "drugs", "overdose", and "addict" in order to better understand why you were always acting so different at family gatherings.

I do thank you, though, for allowing us to take in one of your children and help him develop into the young man he is now, and the extraordinary man he will become in the future. He's doing so much better since he came into our home, and there isn't one day that he doesn't amaze me in a new way. He is such an incredible human being, and it's really a shame that you don't care enough to see that.

That's the very worst part about being an addict, though, that you had children and don't even care about them. Well, until you need to borrow some cash. At least asking them for the money would be considered generous considering you used to just steal it. Good thing none of them live with you anymore.

However, I won't thank you for the countless number of times that you've made my life a living hell. Considering packing bags to stay at a friend's house because you were threatening us, or watching my mother's expression over the phone to find out if one of you were in the hospital or if you stole from another family member yet again. Even though we live in a different town, it's a constant annoyance in our lives.

Hoping the best for you is all I can really do now, considering you've ruined everything else. I can hope that you get clean. I can hope that you are able to turn your lives around. But that's all we're really able to do. The rest is on you.

Your family member