And that, reader, is the link. I want to be very clear. The link is not codependency. It is not enabling. It is not a license to drown with someone.
My older sister’s fall into depravity taught me something that no amount of therapy or self-help books ever could. It taught me that . We are not good or evil, pure or corrupt, saved or damned. We are a messy, glorious, terrible spectrum. my older sister falling into depravity and i link
But you can do this: Don’t leave it wide open—don’t let her walk in and steal your peace, your money, or your sanity. But leave it cracked. Leave a sliver of light. And that, reader, is the link
Here is what I have learned. You do not have to approve of her choices to love her. You do not have to enable her destruction to support her humanity. And most importantly, you cannot save her if she does not want to be saved. It is not enabling
I thought that if I could just cut the link, I would be free.
But links don't work that way. A link between siblings is not a cord you can cut with scissors. It’s a root system, buried deep underground. You can poison the leaves, but the root remembers. The turning point came on a Tuesday. It was 3:17 AM. My phone buzzed. It was a number I didn’t recognize. I almost silenced it. But something—call it intuition, call it the root system—made me answer.