The Occasion Where Constance Gets Yet Another Call

Annnnnd I found out this morning that Brother #1 is in jail. Again.

Funny aside: When I called my sister (whom we have not met on this blog), I told her that her brother was in jail. She paused a second and said, "Which One?" Because it seriously could have been any one of the three at one time.

I can't seem to wrap my mind around that fact that my brother, with whom I spent many an afternoon playing army guys, is apparently becoming a career criminal. Oh, I've read stories where a person talks about their relative's drug problems, arrests, etc. and I've always thought (not explicitly but in a vague sort of way), "Well, they're obviously dysfunctional/trashy/lowclass/notfromagoodfamilylife/lackingmoralgrounding/etc." I always thought that people who ended up with multiple drug arrests were "addicts" who lived a life of ill-repute. I really thought that the few skirmishes and questionable decisions my family members have made have been more about College Rebellion and Youthful Stupidity rather than lifelong criminal tendencies. I really thought everyone would get their shit together at some point. And I thought for sure that although Brother #1 has always been known to be a social toker, it was Not a Big Deal. I'm not sure why I thought we (as in, my family) were better than this.

This time, it seems he was pulled over for a minor traffic violation (like, generally one where the officer says, "Get this fixed." and lets you go with a warning).

Evidently, the halo of pot smoke swirling around Brother #1's head tipped the officer off to the fact that, "Hey, there might be drugs in here."

And a check of the car revealed some (quantity unknown) various prescription pills which, obviously, Brother #1 had no prescription for. They were not in a labeled bottle.

And while I was getting the information from my father about all of this, Brother #1 beeps in (from jail), wondering where everyone was and complaining of being cold.

Ummm...we're all sitting here, mouths agape at your stupidity for continuing to do drugs, *getting caught with them, AGAIN* when you haven't even had your court date from your previous arrest for possession of cocaine and the fact that you left a meeting with your lawyer and got pulled over for something SO STUPID and ended in IN JAIL. Oh. My. God. How stupid Can You Be? Give us a fucking minute to reattach our jaws and stop doing fish-gape faces at the phone before you harangue us because you're cold. OMG, Why don't You just Sit There and Freeze, Asshole.

I'm not sure exactly what he expects to happen. I mean, his prior arrest happened when he...wait for it...got pulled over for a minor traffic violation. This time, the officer suspected drugs (gee, I wonder why, possibly the plume of smoke and skunk-smell?) and found cocaine in the trunk of my brother's car. He was riding with a group of guys. Of course, he claims that it wasn't his but when a lawyer said, "Well, that's something. Plausible deniability. Because the bag won't have your fingerprints on it you will be able to argue that you didn't know it was there." and Brother #1 replied, "Yeah, well. That's the thing. It *would* have my fingerprints on it...but it wasn't mine."

I would like to reemphasize that my brother is in his Mid-Thirties. Has a wife (although that's on the road to divorce). He has two children. He has a very supportive, tight-knit family. He's got a mortgage, fercryinoutloud.

He should KNOW better.

At this point, most of the family is sitting back to see what will happen. I, for one, am in no rush to bail him out. I hate to say this but I think his ass needs to sit in jail and think about what his story is going to be. What kind of father he is going to be.

Some of these decisions are a foregone conclusion. He's already going to have a record. He's already probably going to spend some major time in jail. His kids are already going to have to visit their Daddy in the Big House. He's already failed in a lot of ways.

And it may be the shock, but DAMN people, I'm starting to think that he may not pull out of this. I have already accepted that he may have A Problem. That's fine. That's something we can handle. But this whole Multiple Arrests is getting into gray area where I'm not sure how to handle My Idea of Him. Because, seriously, the other day, he dropped off his son for kindergarten, for God's sake. He just stayed home with his sick baby boy the other day. I can't imagine thinking of him now spending multiple, multiple months (years, possibly) in jail.

OMG, my family is everything my MIL thought it was.

fuck.