So I'm talking to my father in-law this morning, and I know he is well intentioned, but man he was making me crazy. He said that he figured that this incident was probably a wake up call and commenced to give me advice on how I should handle all of this. The thing is, I've been handling "this" for about ten years. I've seen every trick in the book, every tactic, every excuse. They are just now starting their involvement so they haven't had the disappointments time after time, so of course they're a bit more optimistic than myself.
I told him that I'm not concerning myself with regards to if this has been a wake up call or not. I'm not involving myself in it period, and that they needed to be very careful when it comes to believing anything he says, because if he has new ears to listen, he'll pull out every sad story in the book to lay on them, and it's all merely a tactic to garner sympathy and justify his addiction.
I know he was just trying to help, and God love him for trying. I'm not really looking for advice on how to deal with him, I think I'm doing okay with all of that, was merely getting it off my chest.