July 10 - Dad's birthday

This is a very emotional Blessings for me. I am challenging myself to be open about a part of my life that I choose not to talk about much. Today is my dad’s birthday. I am not sure what the best gift he has ever received. I know the best gift that he gave me.

My dad is a recovered alcoholic. I believe that the alcoholism began in my teen years and it continued into my early thirties. The best gift I received from my dad was the day he decided to become a recovering alcoholic. There were a lot of challenging times over all the years that he drank. He was a happy drunk and he could be the life a party, but he became dependant on it to open up and to be happy. Isn’t it funny, he was dependant on a depressant to be happy?

For many years, I wanted nothing more than for him to go through treatment. Then the day finally came, he admitted himself to treatment. I was so happy, yet scared. The hardest day of his treatment was the day that I came to see him and he demanded that I take him home. I refused. He was so anger at me and he told me, out of rage, that I was no longer his daughter. I knew that he did not mean it, and that he probably would not remember saying it. It was hard to leave that day knowing how upset he was at me.

He completed his treatment and attended AA meetings on a regular basis. The first year was a challenge. I was invited to his one year anniversary party with his AA group. At that meeting my dad got up and talked about the challenges of the year and gave me another gift. He came over to me, hugged me (remember old Dutch men are generally not huggers) and thanked me for having the courage to leave him in treatment, instead of taking him home.

My dad has been free from alcohol since October 1999. I am so grateful that my kids will never remember their grandfather was an alcoholic.

Blessings
Robin