what I'm dealing with is the personal embarrassment that goes with a lone wolf, self-made person admitting he has a problem.
Freeport when I read that I thought "My God I could have written that myself a little over 2 1/2 years ago!!!"
One of my daughters is an anorexic, she is in recovery from that now and doing quite well, but while she was in rehab I spent 3 weeks out of town with her and not having anything to really do during the day while she was in IOP there I attended AA meetings at the medical center there, I went to three a day and they were full of every type of Doctor one ever heard of, along with hospital administrators.
In DC there are AA meeting in every major government building including the Capitol building (Gee I wonder what kind of folks attend AA meetings there? LOL). One thing people who attend AA learn is when it comes to alcoholism there is not a single type or class of people that are immune to it, and what I really find amazing is that there is also not a single type or class of people that have not found the solution for thier alcoholism in AA.
I am a Senior Systems Analyst at one of the largest Governement agencies with huge worldwide press exposure, in one single meeting I attend there is one guy who lives under a bridge, a prominent lawyer, a minister, and several business owners. I can assure you that we all would much rather be known as recovering alcoholics who are in AA then the guy we see getting arrested for a DUI or people wispering behind our bcajs about our drinking.
You know I used to think I did such a great job hiding my drinking, well I found out there were very few people who knew me that did not know I had a problem. Now I know why, heavy drinkers smell like booze even in the morning after drinking heavy the night before, that & it is impossible to hide the red eyes and the ashen grey skin. The only person I had fooled about my drinking problem was me!!
You know Freeport I would have a great deal of respect for Ted Kennedy if I heard he was in AA or any other recovery program, but I have no idea if he is or he isn't, what I know of him is he is a drunk who keeps getting re-elected.