Hi, AGM. I think each of us initially has our own idea of what an alcoholic is, and it rarely matches how we see our loved ones, and that picture is rarely how we see our loved ones initially. Generally, our initial concepts tend to be of the ones where addiction has already taken or hidden most of the good things from the person. However, those pictures don't show what leads up to that point.
I'm sorry that your talk didn't go as well as you wanted, but glad that it didn't go as bad as you feared it would.