When I look back at old pictures of you it is bittersweet.
I have an entire album of pictures of you. I felt a protective pull over those photo albums. It was all I had left of you. Looking backwards makes me smile. In those pictures, you look healthy and happy. Well dressed. Being held by loving parents. Surrounded by friends. You look like the stereotypical American child.
You had no idea what was coming. How your choices would come to shape your life. How your addiction would come to shape mine.
Unfortunately I saw the tragedy of your life unfold. I watched you claw at the edges of addiction unable to escape. I was shaped within the dysfunction brought forth by your addiction. I was there at the unfortunate ending. I watched Alcoholism end your life.
It still hurts in many ways I struggle to put words to. There are memories that I am not ready to unpack yet.
I don’t know where your addiction started. That was one of the many secrets you took with you. In the wake of your death, I have come to terms with living with the unknown. There are things that we will never know, because of your silence.
There is nothing I can do about the past. It is done. Looking back at my childhood with anger, does nothing, but hurt me. I can hold you accountable, and still find it in my heart to forgive you. within healing I can stop this pain from continuing forward to my children.
In the end, I think that is the best gift I can give all of us.
Impacted By A 