Until it Doesn’t –
February 15, 2020 – Anyone who has lived through alcoholism will know that reasoning with a constantly drunk individual is not an easy task. My overriding memories from my teenage years are of incidents so bizarre and difficult to process, they are scarcely believable. On one occasion, we were held hostage in my dad’s house, whilst he drunkenly retrieved a shotgun and decided we weren’t to leave. My sister and I managed to escape to a kind neighbour’s house, but our two youngest siblings remained inside until the police arrived and diffused the situation. Another time, I remember coming back from school to find my dad and brother throwing steak knives at the front door. My brother was about 10 at the time. When I tried to reason with my dad, he blew up and told me to get out. He missed everything – his sister’s wedding, his own father’s funeral, every school event, every grandchild’s birth. All due to his ever increasing dependence on alcohol.
