Oh. I should be a member of that organization. I didn't know it existed. My dad stopped drinking in 1980 (I was a freshman in high school). I think his damage was already done to himself (he had 80 mini strokes in 2000 and he has coronary artery disease and he made me strange and not mainstream to deal with.
That may be why we're friends. We find each other. I was able to undo a lot of emotional damage through the program. So was my hubby. I think my happiest result is that I led the way to sobriety for my parents. I started going because I was tired of not fitting anywhere and I'd realized my resentment toward my mom was toxic to me. I needed to get rid of it. A guy I was dating led me there.
I educated my sister who was in denial about Mom's alcoholism - we knew she was crazy, just not why - and we were able to step in with an intervention when the time was right. Both parents ended up diagnosed as alcoholics and put into a year-long outpatient program. It saved their marriage and started Mom on a path of healing I'm still amazed about. They had 10 truly happy years of marriage before we lost my dad to Hodgkin's disease.
Today, I have the relationship with my mom I always wanted. I love her and I'm proud of her.
You know, I almost hemmed and hawed and said we met at a "self-help group." There's a whole anonymity thing about program. I'm very open about my end of it. Eric is a bit more discreet. I'm so glad now I didn't!
I found you though Yeoww and mainly because you are a very kind, compassionate, helpful person. You wrote me posts on my kitties when they were sick (and when I was posting to yeoww) and it intrigued me enough to look you up and read your journal. Even after reading your journal I still didn't know you were a child of an alcoholic. I got the whole animal kindness and changing careers (we have that in common too) and friended you without further reading.
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You're probably thinking the kitten we rescued was white, but that's because when Eric caught sight of her, it was her white fur that he saw.
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My mom, thankfully, got sober just before our wedding.
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I educated my sister who was in denial about Mom's alcoholism - we knew she was crazy, just not why - and we were able to step in with an intervention when the time was right. Both parents ended up diagnosed as alcoholics and put into a year-long outpatient program. It saved their marriage and started Mom on a path of healing I'm still amazed about. They had 10 truly happy years of marriage before we lost my dad to Hodgkin's disease.
Today, I have the relationship with my mom I always wanted. I love her and I'm proud of her.
You know, I almost hemmed and hawed and said we met at a "self-help group." There's a whole anonymity thing about program. I'm very open about my end of it. Eric is a bit more discreet.
I'm so glad now I didn't!
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