Hi Mlewis...
I just wanted to chime in to let you know that moving didn't change a thing for me and my former alcoholic husband. We thought we could "run away" from our problems, but they just followed us where we moved. The problems weren't in a geographical location, they were within us, within him and within me.
Begging, pleading, reasoning, trying to understand, screaming, raging, bargaining...nothing worked to change my alcoholic. I finally realized that I DID NOT HAVE THE POWER TO CHANGE HIM. Only he has that power.
Now about his potential...please read this thread:
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...potential.html
My former husband also had "great potential". He was an amazing photographer and digital illustrator, and when I met him, he was wholeheartedly devoted to his son. And yet, he chose to let that go, wallow in his self-pity and his alcohol.
Yes, Cory MAY become a great x, y, and z someday, if he works at it and wants it bad enough. But right now, today, this very minute, he is the man who physically and verbally abuses you, bottle in hand. Is THIS the man you love?
Please know that there is no excuse for the way he treats you. It doesn't matter what was done to him and how unfair and horrible his life is, was or will be. He CHOOSES to drink. He CHOOSES to mistreat you. You are not there with a gun up his nose, forcing him to do these things.
There comes a point when we have to stop making excuses for all the people in the world who, because they had a bad childhood, CHOOSE to perpetuate the toxicity and abuse onto others.
Keep posting. We're here.