I have always been a kind, loving, and caring person. While I don't seek out people with issues or try to solve everyone's problems, my friends and family know exactly who to turn to for help.
This is my first experience with alcoholism in the home. And yes, so much happened so fast that there wasn't a lot of time for advice and education. I've gotten a lot from this forum and it's been very helpful during the episode that's currently in progress.
I'm so glad many of you have taken time to not only recognize my strengths, but also remind me of them. I'm learning that codependency does have many meanings. I haven't given up on myself and I haven't quit working on the person I am and have always wanted to be. I've always been strong willed and even though I love and give of myself, I never sacrifice my own goals. I may have given him a lot in this short period, but I'm proud that I can say I've never missed a day of work, I've never given him money to support his habit, I've never taken him to buy alcohol, I've never stayed home or missed out on something because he needed care. I did spend my birthday in the hospital, but my birthday party with my friends and family was the day before. While he was in the hospital the 2nd time, I had friends from out of town over, we went to an all day festival and spent 3 days having fun without him. Yes, I've worked around my already set schedule to visit him and be with him when he was having sober days... but I've never changed my schedule to accommodate him.
In fact, he helped me come up with the independent study project I'm working on for my MBA and he's very supportive of my goals. It's unfortunate that we've had more drunk days then sober days because when he's sober, he's amazing.