Until it Doesnโt โ
February 15, 2020 – Anyone who has lived through alcoholism will know that reasoning with a constantly drunk individual is not an easy task. My overriding memories from my teenage years are of incidents so bizarre and difficult to process, they are scarcely believable. On one occasion, we were held hostage in my dadโs house, whilst he drunkenly retrieved a shotgun and decided we werenโt to leave. My sister and I managed to escape to a kind neighbourโs house, but our two youngest siblings remained inside until the police arrived and diffused the situation. Another time, I remember coming back from school to find my dad and brother throwing steak knives at the front door. My brother was about 10 at the time. When I tried to reason with my dad, he blew up and told me to get out. He missed everything โ his sisterโs wedding, his own fatherโs funeral, every school event, every grandchildโs birth. All due to his ever increasing dependence on alcohol.
