Your Father was an Alcoholic

"Your father can't show love Shoo, your father was an alcoholic". Those words were spoken to me 25 years ago in a phone conversation with my mother. It was shocking to hear those words. ALCOHOLIC. When that conversation took place I was 19 years. It was the one year anniversary of my fathers death and I was far from home for the first time at my first duty station for the Marines. Alcoholic. That word was never used around the house and I had never ever thought of him that way. Alcoholic. Now that statement my mom said was not discussed any further in the conversation. I had to digest it later that evening. What does that mean? He's gone, but what does it mean to me that he was an alcoholic? Was he an alcoholic? Such a casual statement from my mom would be so profound to me. However, it would be years until I would understand the true ramifications of what that statement would mean and affect me.

Alcoholic? Yes, it was the truth. It doesn't diminish how much I loved my father. However, the statement my mom said to me still rings in my head on daily basis. My dad was an alcoholic.

C'est fini

Ron