The demise of a capable woman.
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Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 667
The demise of a capable woman.
I have family business that takes me to Seattle at least once a year. My final destination there is a lovely place called Bainbridge Island where my sis and now mom live.
Been going for 5 years now. At least once a year.
Most there live in secluded properties with larger parcels.
At the start of this I remember asking my sis about why the lady down the road was sleeping in her car outside the home on the long drive.
Well she is an alcoholic and she makes it to the house after work, but doesn't want her kids and husband to see she is drunk so she sleeps it off there and later goes home.
Note here. To get home from work if you work in Seattle, you take a ferry. This takes about 45 mins from dock to dock. Then to the homes its minutes to anywhere from the terminal in Bainbridge.
The next year.
She has lot her job after the drinking wrecked her job. She was a very talented software writer that worked for MS. So she is now drinking full time. She drinks in her car to avoid being arrested, and having her family see it.
The next year. Her husband has left her, with the kids, she is now alone and unemployed. She still sits in the car at the end of the long drive.
The next year, she has a new car. It used to be a Mercedes, it is now a Nissan Sentra. And it sits at the end of the driveway, now because a tree has fallen through her house, she has no insurance and can't live in the house. Still crushed by alcohol.
This year, last week, I am there, and as we happen to go buy this time, we see an ambulance, 2 paramedics and 2 police cars. My bro in law who knows pretty much everyone there, pulls up and asked whats going on. We are awaiting the arrival of the Coroner. One deceased found in her car at the end of her driveway.
Watching this over the past 5 years, is a reminder. This disease is progressive. The only ones that can't see that are the ones that have it.
My sis and BIL knew the woman before she got crushed by drinking. Said she was a highly capable person. She tried rehab and failed, several times. She went from sober most of the time, to obviously drunk most of the time. She lost it all. Everyone was begging her to get better. They said her husband, also a nice guy, used to come talk to them, just to get away from her. He cried like a baby that it was killing the family.
He never knew why it started. He said, she said it was the stress of work. She apparently ran the MS effort to digitize the worlds works of art, to make them available by digital library for everyone to access. An effort that I don't know if MS ever completed or not.
But he thought there was something else.
He finally had had enough.
*sigh*
We sometimes need reminders that it affects a lot of people and families besides our own. And a reminder that sometimes, death is the only way it stops for them.
Been going for 5 years now. At least once a year.
Most there live in secluded properties with larger parcels.
At the start of this I remember asking my sis about why the lady down the road was sleeping in her car outside the home on the long drive.
Well she is an alcoholic and she makes it to the house after work, but doesn't want her kids and husband to see she is drunk so she sleeps it off there and later goes home.
Note here. To get home from work if you work in Seattle, you take a ferry. This takes about 45 mins from dock to dock. Then to the homes its minutes to anywhere from the terminal in Bainbridge.
The next year.
She has lot her job after the drinking wrecked her job. She was a very talented software writer that worked for MS. So she is now drinking full time. She drinks in her car to avoid being arrested, and having her family see it.
The next year. Her husband has left her, with the kids, she is now alone and unemployed. She still sits in the car at the end of the long drive.
The next year, she has a new car. It used to be a Mercedes, it is now a Nissan Sentra. And it sits at the end of the driveway, now because a tree has fallen through her house, she has no insurance and can't live in the house. Still crushed by alcohol.
This year, last week, I am there, and as we happen to go buy this time, we see an ambulance, 2 paramedics and 2 police cars. My bro in law who knows pretty much everyone there, pulls up and asked whats going on. We are awaiting the arrival of the Coroner. One deceased found in her car at the end of her driveway.
Watching this over the past 5 years, is a reminder. This disease is progressive. The only ones that can't see that are the ones that have it.
My sis and BIL knew the woman before she got crushed by drinking. Said she was a highly capable person. She tried rehab and failed, several times. She went from sober most of the time, to obviously drunk most of the time. She lost it all. Everyone was begging her to get better. They said her husband, also a nice guy, used to come talk to them, just to get away from her. He cried like a baby that it was killing the family.
He never knew why it started. He said, she said it was the stress of work. She apparently ran the MS effort to digitize the worlds works of art, to make them available by digital library for everyone to access. An effort that I don't know if MS ever completed or not.
But he thought there was something else.
He finally had had enough.
*sigh*
We sometimes need reminders that it affects a lot of people and families besides our own. And a reminder that sometimes, death is the only way it stops for them.
A work in progress
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: South Jersey
Posts: 16,633
And this is what we mean when we say "functional" is a STAGE, rather than a TYPE of alcoholism.
Many, many alcoholics are "functional" until, well, they're NOT.
Sad story indeed. And all too common. More than most people think.
Many, many alcoholics are "functional" until, well, they're NOT.
Sad story indeed. And all too common. More than most people think.
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