I am the son of an alcoholic

Beyond Alcoholism: The Testimony of a Son Who Found His Family

I am the son of an alcoholic and for years I watched my family fall apart. The arguments were constant, my mother had hysterical fits, and my father reacted with an impenetrable silence. Sometimes, exasperated by the situation, I would yell at him calling him a “drunkard,” trying to hurt him with my words.

Other times, I tried to convince him to promise that he would stop, even though he could never keep those promises. I loved him, but I couldn’t understand why that bottle always seemed more important than us, to the point of destroying everything we had. I felt torn and deeply confused.

Then, suddenly, something changed. My parents started going out twice a week and at home there was a new sense of tranquility. It was then that my mother explained to me that she had found hope for my father and our family: Alcoholics Anonymous for him and Al-Anon for her, because she was also suffering.

Only then did I understand that my father was sick and that the only cure was the love and understanding of our family, without medication. Today we celebrate my father’s two years of sobriety, as he now devotes himself to me with the intention of making up for lost time and shares with us the serenity he has found.

I have great respect for the strength he has shown in fighting this illness, and now I have no doubts about the love I feel for him.

image credits: https://www.fccdenton.org/wellness.html