I'll warn you now before you read any further that you may not like this post.
It's real. It's painful. And it's the truth.
I'm writing this now because, for whatever reason, more people drink more alcohol during the holidays. It especially affects single people. And I want you all to stay alive.
Some may say I'm judging. All I'm saying is I can't be close to an addict. I'll be their friend, but will keep a very safe distance. As clueless as I am about picking the right men, I won't date an addict.
My heart can't handle another break.
I've seen so much destruction from alcohol, and these are just a few. One of my childhood friends was driving home with her husband from a weekend road trip to their university's football game. Both of them, along with their unborn child, were killed. A high school friend was in her first year of marriage when a drunk driver hit her and her husband. She was killed.
My first husband was an alcoholic, but I didn't realize it until after we married. Not long before I met him, he had seen his pre-teen baby sister die in a car crash when her babysitter took her on a joyride with her friends. The friend had been drinking.
While we were together, his brother was driving his wife home from a wedding he had been in. He and another driver were on a two-lane highway and hit head on. Both of them were legally drunk. The other driver was in a pickup truck and survived. My ex's brother was in a Mustang and didn't. He was still wearing his rented tuxedo. When I went with the girls to collect the car seat from the wreck (luckily it was empty that night), the images of the blood splattered child seat and the steering wheel bent on both sides in 45-degree angles will remain imprinted in my memory as long as I live. It was a closed casket service.
Destruction from alcohol isn't always from driving.
My ex never drove drunk. But he was drunk six days a week - from the moment he could consume enough after work until he passed out about 8 o'clock every night. Even after losing a sister and a brother to alcohol accidents, he never slowed down. After a while, I was with a stranger. He lost his job and his decline to rock bottom was happening so fast when we parted ways after just a few years together. couldn't handle being married to an alcoholic, and I don't know today if he survived.
I also watched a friend's big brother die from alcoholism. He was only in his 30s when his body started breaking down. He got really skinny, had very unglamourous conditions that made it difficult to digest food, and his skin turned yellow as his liver failed. He couldn't keep a relationship going and only had his brothers to stand by him as he died at 40. My friend was devastated.
I know we all have a few drinks - especially when we celebrate the holidays. Please keep it to a minimum and do not drive or let your friends drive if they've had too much.
Love to the single girls,
Addison
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