Alcohol CAN be enjoyed and not abused.. I think knowing that and seeing that is a huge part of OUR misery.
But some of us received the message that we needed alcohol to deal with life events. It's prevalent in my family. For example..
I have a cousin 3 years younger than me. She had a driving accident and her passenger, my sister, wound up with a head injury and had to be life flighted (she's fine, she started getting straight A-s after that lol) but my cousin's dad (my mom's brother) sat her down at the table and set a beer in front of her, and said "drink", and by the time she'd get done with one, he'd have another open and waiting. She was a teenager, and she was being taught that when really bad things happened and she had really bad feelings, drinking was the solution. Today she's in her late twenties and from what I see on Fb, she still drinks a lot, doesn't do much else.
Parenting horror story of the day!