Faithwire
  • Watch
  • Go!
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • SCOTUS
  • Life
  • Religious Liberty
  • News
  • Politics
  • Faith
  • Opinion

Life with Addicted Parents: Author Bids Emotional Farewell After Mom Overdoses on Heroin

Credit: Jarrett J. Krosoczka via Facebook
Credit: Jarrett J. Krosoczka via Facebook
Share Tweet
By Faithwire Staff
Editor

April 3, 2017

Jarrett J. Krosoczka is a New York Times bestselling children’s author and illustrator, but that didn’t spare him a difficult childhood as one of the 8 million people in the United States who grew up with a parent who suffers from addiction.

Krosoczka’s lost her battle with addiction after she overdosed on heroin on March 23, Krosoczka wrote in a poignant Facebook post reflecting upon his experiences in witnessing her struggle with the disease all of his life.

READ: Horrific Heroin Overdose Viral Video Leads to Incredible Family Reconciliation

Krosoczka said the “horrible disease” has been taking his mother from him “piece by piece” for his entire life.

“This is difficult, but there is peace in this,” he wrote, adding that he will no longer wake up in the middle of the night wondering if she is okay. “I am mourning, but I have been mourning her loss for many, many years now.”

Krosoczka wrote that now that his mother is gone, “she will no longer be suffering, no longer experiencing the inner turmoil of being who she wanted to be versus feeling the need to fill her body with that poison.”

For the majority of his childhood, Krosoczka’s mother was either incarcerated or in a rehabilitation center, he wrote. For a while, the pair enjoyed a “really good” relationship, which included her attending hometown book signings, dancing at his wedding and holding his first child.

It wasn’t long before that harmonious relationship turned sour, he said.

“But as my own family grew and as I got to see my name and books up in lights in Times Square, I started seeing my mother’s name in the court records of the newspaper once again,” he wrote.

Like Faithwire on Facebook

Krosoczka then made the “excruciating decision” to withdraw his mother from his children’s lives.

“I would not allow my kids to experience the same pain that I had,” he wrote. “And now that we are here, they are none the wiser about what is happening. They are living a wonderful childhood, and we are teaching them about my mother’s life as it becomes developmentally appropriate for them.”

The family held a “wonderful, private memorial” for his mother in Worcester that she would have “absolutely loved,” he said.

During her time in correctional facilities, Krosoczka and his mother would mail drawings back and forth to one another, and he kept every single thing she ever sent him, he said.

Krosoczka displayed those drawings and photos of happier times at the memorial, where he also read aloud letters that she wrote him while in prison. The author has found clarity in revisiting those letters, he wrote

“What had become clear to me became clear to everyone listening—she loved me so very much,” Krosoczka said. “Some kids are being raised by their biological parents and they aren’t loved half as much as my mom loved me.”

Despite all of his difficulties growing up, Krosoczka acknowledges that perhaps watching his mother “squander her talent” was the catalyst to “make a career” out of his art.

“I am who I am in spite of my mother, but I also am who I am because of her—she taught me to never shy away from expressing my love for family,” he wrote.

Krosoczka wrote that he knows there is someone who read his post and nodded along to every single word.

“I hope that you can find the inner peace that I have found,” he wrote.

In lieu of flowers, Krosoczka is asking that donations be made in his mother’s name – Leslie Krosoczka – to the Joseph and Shirely Krosoczka Memorial Youth Art Scholarships at the Worcester Art Museum.

(H/T: Yahoo News)

Other Must-Read Stories:

—GRACE: The Cool Way God Showed Up When This Heroin Addict Was Desperately Searching for a Hit

—‘I Was a Monster’: Woman’s Shocking Transformation After Abandoning Heroin and Embracing Jesus Goes Viral

—Shocked Community Mourns Murdered Pastor Who Transformed the Lives of Addicts and the Poor

—‘Hell Dust’: This Drug Epidemic is Now More Deadly Than Homicide

—Hospitals Are Using Volunteer Cuddlers to Comfort Babies Born Addicted to Drugs

Latest

  • Entertainment

    Blac Chyna Quits OnlyFans, Changes Lifestyle After Becoming Christian: ‘Let Me Let God Lead Me’

  • Faith

    UK Preacher Reported as Terrorist After ‘Disturbing’ ‘Misgendering’ Arrest Wins BIG After Legal Nightmare

  • Faith

    ‘Against Our Christian Beliefs’: NHL Brothers Refuse to Wear LGBT Pride Sweaters

  • News

    Fox News Reporter Hugs Son Live on Air as He Flees School Shooting She Was Covering

  • News

    ‘I Can No Longer Stand on the Sidelines’: After Horrific Shooting, Denver Superintendent Brings Cops Back to Schools in Bold Statement


Sponsored
Sponsored

Newsletter
Signup

Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Blac Chyna Quits OnlyFans, Changes Lifestyle After Becoming Christian: ‘Let Me Let God Lead Me’
  • UK Preacher Reported as Terrorist After ‘Disturbing’ ‘Misgendering’ Arrest Wins BIG After Legal Nightmare
  • ‘Against Our Christian Beliefs’: NHL Brothers Refuse to Wear LGBT Pride Sweaters
  • Fox News Reporter Hugs Son Live on Air as He Flees School Shooting She Was Covering
  • ‘I Can No Longer Stand on the Sidelines’: After Horrific Shooting, Denver Superintendent Brings Cops Back to Schools in Bold Statement

Archives

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016

Categories

  • Christian Persecution
  • Coronavirus
  • culture
  • Culture
  • Entertainment
  • Faith
  • Faith
  • Family
  • George Floyd
  • Go!
  • Israel
  • Life
  • Life
  • Lifestyle
  • Media
  • Men
  • Mission Haiti
  • News
  • News
  • Opinion
  • P.O.V
  • Politics
  • Politics
  • Roe
  • Sponsored
  • Sports
  • Virtue
  • Women

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Navigation

  • Watch
  • Go!
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Staff
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Sign up to get our newsletter your inbox every day.

Newsletter Signup

Do you want to read
more articles like this?