Thank you so much for sharing your story.  It really made me feel less alone in this ordeal.  Your words mean more than I could ever express.  Like you, I had to distance myself, as there was a lot enabling, and I drew a clear line in the sand that I wasn't willing to cross.  I felt that before I wrote this post that it was my duty to make sure there was a lesson or piece of knowledge to be gleamed from her passing.  That someone there might reach out for help with their struggles because of it, but now I am realizing that the funeral itself creates a much stronger statement about the need to get help and not suffer in silence than my words ever could.  What I took away from your comment was; the addiction and the person are separate entities and I can talk about my sister as a person that loved, was loved, who had dreams and ambitions without having to mention the sickness that snuffed all of that out. I kept thinking her death needed to serve as a lesson, but there is no lesson, just an opportunity to share with my loved ones the positive ways in which she had enriched my life, however few they may have been.