Reply #23: she's very much in denial....

[mike_c]

She admits to "having a drinking problem" in a manner that minimizes the problem. I've begged her to enter recovery programs, but she's not ready. Unfortunately, she's doing major damage to herself, physically and mentally. She's been a drinking alcoholic for 25 years. I don't know if she'll ever get to "that certain point."

Your comments were very perceptive-- she is desperately lonely when she's drinking. She spends hours on the phone, slurring her way through conversations, often putting a great deal of effort into locating people she hasn't spoken to in years, waking them up in the middle of the night.

Thanks for offering to help-- I'm pretty much irrevocably out of KLC's future now. As I said in an earlier reply, today has just been one more in a long string of very bad days. I know I will be OK. I'm very worried about KLC-- we are divorcing, but I would never have wanted it to end like this for either of us-- and she has the worse situation by far. I wish I could help her.