Hi Joanie,
I think what you’ve done is amazing, in moving in with your son so that he was able to hang on to his job and start to sort himself out, and it sounds like its paying off. I’m sure that he appreciates what you’ve done. I hope that you take time for yourself now and make your health the priority – you definitely deserve a holiday.
Addiction is very selfish, it seems to destroy everything that it touches, but no one chooses it, its compulsive behaviour (like anorexia) – but we can’t fix it for them. My son was not a selfish person before this, in fact from our family, he was the nicest of us, he was the one that his friends went to for help, the one with the best sense of humour that cracked the room up. I’m guessing that’s true of lots of our kids, they are the sensitive souls and hopefully they still exist underneath all of the mess.
Penny – your childhood sounded very tough, I’m so sorry, it never leaves you. My dad was a cruel alcoholic but I honestly think that he would have been like that without drink, he was just hard-wired that way, the drink just made it more obvious. It would be great to fully understand all of this.
Jackie