Hello altonsdr.phil,
You seem like a real nice person who wants to console and support people. I had a drinking problem years ago. In the 80's before I was correctly diagnosed with Bi-polar 1 Disorder, I used alcohol to hide every emotion I had. Well, even though I was drowning in a sea of pity and anguish, I was getting to be pretty good at hiding
things. I used alcohol on a daily basis. My father was an alcoholic and married one. Great I thought. They have all the same friends.......Jim Beam, Jack Daniels, Tom Collins
and the like..............that's a marriage made in heaven!!! not.
Anyway, I had to give it up as my liver was affected by it and I got a Gall bladder disease and had to be hospitalized.
I couldn't drink for 6 mos. and had to go on a special diet.
I didn't really enjoy the taste of alcohol, but I liked the buzz
I got. I thought it made me stronger. Oh now really????
All it did was make me give a damn............I quit and don't drink because I won't STOP!!! Does that make you an alcoholic??? Is there such thing as "borderline" alcoholic?
I'm told there isn't. You are, or you aren't. It's like being a little bit pregnant............you are, or you aren't!!!
I take meds now that don't afford me that vice anymore. Besides, living around two of them made a lasting impression of what a fool you can make of yourself. Anyway
my parents and stepmom are dead now. There's just the three of us left. I'm the baby.
Anyway, I like your posts.