Dear Hoogirl
I began attending Al-Anon in June 2001 out of desperation. I had been trying to control my husband's drinking and using for the past 5 years and I had become pretty unstable myself. In Al-Anon, I found support and others who had done the very same things I had done and I was reminded that I was trying to control a disease which I have absolutely no power over. I have begun to learn what I can do to change myself and how to detach from my husband's disease. What I have not learned in Al-Anon is how to fix him, which is what I have tried to do for a long time. And I realize now that it is up to him to work on his program, and me on mine.