thotful

It is believed that alcoholism is a progressive disease. I even read an AA pamphlet that defined several of the stages of the disease. It becomes more and more difficult to keep up the denial as the disease progresses.

I have been sober for 2 years and would consider my place to "stop digging" as a stage of being highly functional (still working, no jail time, no loss of spouse...yet). My father is in his late 60s and close to retirement. A sibling is definitely drinking every day (his 3 year old once offered him a beer and me a water - how often does that need to happen that the child thinks dad prefers a beer and uncle prefers a water). This sibling is a middle school counselor and I often hear positive things about him (work ethic, charming, etc).

Both seem to be at highly functional "stages" of the disease of alcoholism (my relationship with them LEAPS out of textbooks and completely parallels stories from other Al-Anon members or loved ones of alcoholics in general)

I was wondering.

Is the progression of the disease for my father and brother inevitable?

I sat in my first AA meeting and what convinced me that I also suffer from the disease was the progressive nature of it and that other members stories completely matched mine for their earlier stages of the disease. I would be like: Yep, that's me...Yep, that's me...Yep, that's me...Wait, That's not me (because I didn't reach that point).

Can some of the member share your experiences of loved ones progression of the disease? What happens that moves it forward? Tramautic event? Or...just does it creep up slowly? or is it like "bam!" wth just happened - one day it was all social and everything and then it all spirals downward quickly. I feel guilty at hoping the disease will progress so that my family gets a clue. Or...should I just let a pipe dream like that go and turn back to working on me (turn it over to the higher power to take care of and I let go of thinking too far into the future)?

???