I think there is probably a fine line between optimism and co-dependency. My skepticism goes back to my childhood and the naivite of blieving my dad each of the hundreds of times he said he was going to quit drinking. I suppose the truth of the matter was in his jargon. It was always that he was going to quit and never that he had quit.
I guess it was true that one day he would quit drinking, most likely it would be the same day he quit breathing. In the end, he actually quit drinking the day he no longer had access to alcohol.
He bragged once that he had not had a drink in four years. It was true but it was because he had no way of getting any alcohol.
It is certainly not my place to judge people who have chemical dependencies or other addictions. Right or wrong, if there is one thing in my life I resent it is that while I myself am not addictive, it seems my entire life has been plagued by addiction, my father, then my first wife, then my children and now my daughter in law.
All three of my sons were natural born addicts. I have never been able to escape it. I suppose I did not improve the odds by marrying the daughter of two alcoholics yet I could never have hoped for a more wonderful partner or mother for my children than Dorothy. I guess things even themselves out. BUT MAN O MAN DO I EVER HATE ADDICTION.
