-
My Black Sheep Uncle: In Memoriam
“You are SUCH an asshole,” I hissed.
-
Alcohol Stunts Your Emotional Growth
Alcoholics have a lot in common with immature adolescents.
-
My Imaginary Father
I used to think he was strong.
-
To the Drunk Who Sat behind Me
Your horrible behavior is being immortalized in this blog.
-
Stop Calling Alcoholism a Disease
Take responsibility. Take back your power.
-
Whoa. My Parents Loved Each Other.
I know this is going to sound awfully strange to those of you who were lucky enough to grow up in intact households, but for the first time, at age 52, it recently dawned on me that at some point in time, my parents actually loved each other. And now I’m having to reframe my…
-
On Leading Horses to Water
I have this unique gift. I know what’s best for everybody except, perhaps, myself. At least, that’s the reality I choose to live in much of the time. It’s really easy to look at people’s lives from the outside and come up with quick and easy solutions for them, isn’t it? The real challenge is…
-
M.A.D. — Mutually Assured Dysfunction
I have a distant acquaintance who is a very self-destructive alcoholic. Watching him is like witnessing a train wreck in slow motion. And it’s even more tragic because when he’s off the sauce, he seems to be able to lead a very successful life. Alas, he’s almost never sober. A couple years ago he met…
-
Another Rant About Alcoholism
One of my most popular blog entries is Why I Hate Alcohol, and I genuinely thought I’d gotten all my anger about the subject off my chest when I wrote it. It turns out that that is not the case. Far from it. The other day, someone who calls himself “Dad” commented on another one…
-
The Black Sheep in the Family
Every family has one. A relative who refuses to play by the rules. Someone who causes unbelievable heartache, unspeakable scandal, and enormous amounts of frustration. Someone who generates really, really interesting family stories. In my family that was Uncle Dave, my mother’s little brother. When my mom was young, she was bedridden with whooping cough,…