Author: qhorsegal
Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 9:57 pm
Syl, that was a good post. I think you are on the money with that statement, that it runs in the family. I have seen this over and over again in many families. Mine is no different. My mom and dad are both addicts. As are all of my aunts and uncles…well, out of 4 I only have 2 left and one of those on her last years of life all because of drugs and alcohol. On my dad’s side my grandfather was an alcoholic his whole life…until the day he died. He had a massive stroke at the age of 69. His dad was also an alcoholic and I think it goes back even further than that. On my moms side I know that my grandmother was addicted to valium for over 30 years, she never got past that. She died of unrelated issues at 52. But her father was an alcoholic…not sure of his family history because he was not in her life, left her mother when she was only a couple years old and never contacted her again. My Grandfather was fine but his mom and dad were both alcoholics. They were very "social drinkers". Holidays in our house looked like an open bar. My great grandmother knitted my grandmother special lace cocktail glass covers which were never used except on the occasions they could be pried away from the horse tracks and drove down from SanDiego for thanksgiving and christmas.
I know that this does not excuse our addictions…but it definitely explains some of it. I am fully aware of the dangers for my kids and I hope that when they are old enough to make decisions about drinking and drugs on their own they will learn from my mistakes. In the mean time I will do everything possible to keep anything addictive from being prescribed to them. I wouldn’t let them take a pain pill unless they were practically dying in front of me. It may sound harsh but I won’t be the one who gets them started on that road. It scares the hell out of me thinking they will wind up like me…
