This hit home! My kids need a normal household. I need to provide that. They seem well adjusted, have friends, get good grades. But they DO NOT ever need to think it normal to have a mom more concerned about a drunk than about them. WOW! I have spent the last months much more focused on how if he would change, then life would be normal. Now I have to change. I am on the right path, I am in school, and in a year and a half, I will have a job that will support us without help from any one. I quit the bartending, for the best. I just need to focus on us. I have noticed that since he has been gone, they are sharing more with me about little things in their lives, thought it was because they were happy he was gone. They are 10 and 12. But they say they are ok with him coming back. They like him. I think they are sharing more because I have so much more time to actually listen to them.
Lori