rudeawakening

Mine was when I was about 6 or 7 yrs of age. I remember my mothers cousins husband used to come over and my father would nuts running around hiding all the liquor, especially the hard stuff. Edgar would would bring his own, but he would stay until wee hours of the morning and only after drinking everything in sight. I remember he was usually nice to me and his daughter used to baby sit me when my parents went out (she was hot.. LOL)

Towards the end I remember he had gotten so bad that would hallucinet, he would say he say angels and it would scare him even more which would cause him to drink even more.

The alcohol eventually killed him, but not unitl it made effects on his wife, my baby sitter and me... yes me. You see, I knew from then on I would never allow my self to become an alcoholic and to this day I remember him whenever I found myself drinking more than I should... instead I became a pothead and waisted of 10 yrs of my life, sigh.

Ah the recreational times 70's/80's.... but thats a different story and I've been straight up for over 20 yrs.

Bernadette

I've been surrounded by alcoholics and drenched in an alcoholic culture all my life.
My father was an alcoholic so I cannot even place my earliest memories of him drinking. I remember the smell on him from forever because I always liked to climb into his lap. I remember the stumbling. The slurring, the fights, the horrible "incidents" (police, missing cars, phone calls that sent my mother over the edge). I remember his body, passed out in starnge positions and locations all over our house. I remember the hangovers, the sound of a beer can opening (which I swear I could hear 100 yards away from the house!!) the sound of ice clinking in a glass. I remember our trips to Ireland to visit family where my father and some of my alcoholic cousins and uncles would just disappear. For days! And then resurface completely smashed - in the middle of the day....I remember being 8 yrs old and drinking Fanta in the pub playing darts with old men while my Dad got plastered...

Alcohol was everywhere around me. When my father finally got into AA when I was a teenager it was such an eye opener for me!! I thank God I got to witness that transformation. And natch, the codie in me wishes that transformation could have prevented my 3 brothers from becoming alkies..but it did not...

Peace,
B.

tormented22267

I too have been surrounded by addiction my entire life. My father was a herion addict who commited suicide, in jail, when I was five. My mother worked at a bar and drank a fifth a day until I was in high school. She had alcoholic and/or drug addict boyfriends coming and going all the time. What I mostly remember (I've blocked alot out I think), is always being alone. My Mom was always 'at work' at the bar. Looking back, I know she couldn't have worked from morning 'til night day in and day out. I'm sure some of that time was spent working, but not all. When she was home, she was partying.

My mom attempted suicide when I was 16 and was placed into a mental institution for months. I hated her then, but I know it was the best thing for her. She hasn't drank since then, she completely turned her life around and she remarried about 10 years ago to a wonderful, wonderful man. The mother I have had for the past 21 years, and the mom I had for the first 16, are two entirely different people. It's proof that A's really can turn their life around - IF they want to.

justjo

My father use to come home after work drunk as a skunk when I was7. My Uncle (his brother) burnt his house down with a cigarette and died in the house. My grandfather (their father) was an abusive alcoholic and I remember him throwing an ashtray at my grandmother when I stayed over one night. My brother drinks every night but still says he doesnt have a problem. My sister is a cronic alcoholic who has lost most everything. My son prefers drugs but drinks aswell. Ok I'll stop now, its bothering me.

1963comet

In 6th grade my mother met a man that drank. My mother would sit at the top of the stairs waiting for him to leave. So many nights he was sitting outside in his car drunk (passed out).

After that my step dad was raging drunk every thursday night because of payday. I remember once he pulled the phone cord out of the wall because my mother was going to call the police. This continued after I left home. My mother and 2 sisters would come to my house to get away from him.

Weird that I ended up drinking myself after all the fear of drunks. But been sober 7 years and 9 months. So, I have lived on both sides of the tracks.

DesertEyes

My earliest memories as a child are of hiding under the bed, waiting for my drunk father to come stumbling thru the house. I clearly remember the sound of ice cubes in a glass as he poured himself a drink, the sound of him sliding across the hallway wall. I guess he was so drunk he had to lean against the wall to hold himself up. I remember praying that he would pass my room and go beat up my Mother instead of me, and the times he did I prayed that God would kill me for having been such a coward and not protect my Mother. 'course, she was a drunk too.

They all died. My dad quit drinking, but he never quit being a "dry drunk". He died of complications from all his drinking days. His brother died a drunk. Their two sisters killed themselves, one from the PTSD of all the abuse she received from her father. The other one I'm not sure why. Yeah, both my grandparents on that side were abusive drunks.

Didn't stop _me_ from drinking. Oh no, I was going to be different than my father. I never did drink like him, I just drank different stuff. All the guilt from my mother made me a "rescuer", perfect codie material.

AA, ACoA and Al-Anon fixed all that. I am perfectly happy knowing I am alcoholic like my Father, I just choose not to drink or abuse people, places and things. I no longer am addicted to "rescuing" women. I now have a charming lady in my life who doesn't need rescuing and is perfectly happy to take care of me when my bad heart is acting up.

Mike

SlvrMag

These are very touching stories. I read them all, twice. My mom and dad were both alcoholics. My dad was drunk by 9 am on hard stuff. My mom was a beer drinker--all day.

I used to watch my dad beat my mom, then he would leave with me in his arms and my mom screaming. He would drive with me (at the time I was about 4 yrs old) plastered. I don't remember much of growing up-probably better that way.

Latte

I can remember from about the age of nine my Dad on the back porch drinking. He never was a mean drunk. He was pretty mellow. He just ignored the family from the time I was 9 until I married my husband and had kids. His drinking is going to kill him. He suffers from Parkinson's like symptoms due to his drinking and is on Levadopa.

I'm a binge drinker but my DOC are pills. I've been clean and sober for a few 24 hours. I understand the disease but I feel for my sister. She hasn't found Al-Anon yet.

blessed4x

My grandfather was an alcoholic, but quit before I was born. Great grandfather on the other side died of alcohol poisoning also before my time. I didn't find out about either of them until I was an adult. No one in my immediate family drank when I was growing up, but my first (and every one after that) boyfriend at age 15 was an alcoholic, and would drive me around plastered. I've now been married to an alcoholic, who has alcoholism on both sides of his family, for 21 years. Funny how even though I was "protected" from my family history of the disease I went and chose relationships with alcoholics time after time.

SelfSeeking

I remember hiding my dad's beer cans under a blanket in the back seat of the car when he got pulled over for speeding... I remember him "sneaking" me sips of beer behind my mom's back when I was 4. HA! Guess what kind of drinker I became- a sneaky one, filling up bottles with water, hiding my liquor, chugging drinks and refilling before people noticed it was gone.
I also remember my dad's side of the family, the uncles and my grandfather getting into drunken fistfights at barbecues. Some of them thought it was funny once to spit beer all over my 5 year old brother at one get-together. I was seven, we were visiting without our parents. I blockaded us into a bedroom by somehow managing to drag a wardrobe in front of the door. They were scary drunks.

lizw

I was born into a family affected by alcoholism.
My dads parents loved to drink and my mothers father was a secret drinker.
Neither of my parents drunk. It would have been good if they did, there would have been some relief from the insanity.

While alcohol or being around alcohol is part of alcoholism, I'd define alcoholism as more of a 'attitude and belief' system bred in families. First belief being, I am worthless.

As a kid, parents generally feed a childs self esteem but in families affected by alcoholism all the attention is on the drinker and the drama so kids get forgotten about.

Some of my earliest memories from childhood centre round looking for some indication that may parents loved me. They never told me, so in my mind, I came to the conclusion certain actions they took were an indication that they did.

Good topic. Thanks.