1 Son, 4 Overdoses, 6 Hours

[GreenEyedLefty]

4. I'm the moved-away sister in this scenario. My brother is an alcoholic.

Years ago, he was in the throes of a particularly bad bout of drinking. He had gotten yet another DUI and was on day-release from jail so he could work. My mom was beside herself. It was classic co-dependency. In her desperation to keep from losing her son, she would do anything to keep him alive. She paid his bills, she allowed him to stay at her house, she visited him in jail. She hoped that by helping him, by making his life easier, he would stop drinking.

One day we were talking on the phone. She was crying over my brother. I told her that this was killing her, she was not helping him by continually propping him up, and she needed to allow him to fall. "But what if he dies?" That's his responsibility, Mom. Allow him to take responsibility for his own actions.

These conversations are so heart wrenching. Oftentimes the addict dies despite the family's best efforts.

Someday, Patrick is going to overdose outside of his parents' purview and he will die. What is heartbreaking is the certainty that this very thing is going to happen. It's just a question of when.