I said goodbye to my mother and the alcoholic in sept of last year. One of the hardest things I've ever done. I miss my mom like crazy....insane crazy at moments but I have to keep myself from calling her b/c that woman is gone and I'll never see her again unless she can sober up. The line between mom and alcholic blurred when she fell off the wagon two years ago....I dealt with it for two years until I just couldn't face the alcoholic in her anymore and I decided that my 3 year old son should never have to experience a two sided grammy (what I saw as a child).
Just as Smithers said "Detachment is a good thing, but very difficult!"