You can pick your friends-you can pick your seat but you can not pick your family! That being said my parents did the best they knew how and I can't blame them for the disease of Alcoholism. I remember the first couple of years of sobriety I felt like I was 10 yrs old when I was around them. The reality was they were not even aware they had that much power over me, I allowed that to happen. When I learned about codependency and hoping to get something from them that they were not capable of giving I was able to move forward in my sobriety and my life. My parents were not holding me back I was holding on to old stuff!