[Astro]

Beautiful, thank you for sharing this Jenady. I took the liberty of substituting the word "father" for "mother" and it mirrored so many of my experiences as a parent.

It wasn't that long ago that I'd broken both of my childrens noses while playing with them. I let my daughter fall off a changing table when she was an infant. Both of my kids were shaken mercilessly when they cried while I was suffering from my usual hangovers. I used to excuse those things away as accidents, but I understand now that they were abused at the hands of an alcoholic.

I'm sooooo excited about being with them on Christmas morning, sharing the love and excitement that's almost become normal in lives. But the greatest gift I could have as a father is having our relationship restored, and having the chance to be the parent that every child deserves to have. I owe that to God and AA.