None of our alcoholics are "just alcoholics." Alcoholics/Addicts can be charming, kind, loving, wonderful, intelligent people. Their disease does not independently define them, however, it does overshadow a lot of those good traits.
Thank you for your reply and for the helpful advice. Just to clarify: I guess in my search to find someone with a story similar to ours, I saw a lot of people on this site with stories different than ours: physically and mentally abusive, vulgar, hateful, unaware that they had a problem, etc. I wanted to give as much context about our situation as I could and that includes who he is/was before his alcoholism took over. However, I do know so many truly amazing people have been consumed and taken by this horrible disease. I really didn't mean to imply anything different.
Another few pieces of context I believe are helpful to share:
-My brother is gay. He loves God, but due to the way he has been treated in some of the recovery facilities he has been in (Salvation Army, specifically) and by some extremely religious family members, he does not always believe God loves or accepts him. Nonetheless, he is a faithful follower. I truly believe if he could pray the gay away or pray the alcoholism away, he would.
-My mom has attended some Al-Anon meetings. However, she works almost 80 hours a week in a hospital and cannot get to the one meeting they have weekly in her small town.
-Also, when I said my mom is emotionally sensitive... I should say that she has buried 2 of her 4 children (one due to SIDs, one to a motorcycle accident...) and lives each day waiting to see if she will have to bury a third child.