My father & a couple of his brothers came back from the war alcoholics. Yeah if it wasn't for my Mother our family would have split apart. She held it together. Even though my Dad would disappear for days & we didn't know if he was alive or dead.
When I was little, I remember the arguments they had & how she would threaten to leave him & how freaked out I used to get when I heard that. I worried about that a lot as that was said all the time.
As I got into my teenage years it didn't bother me anymore. I used to disrespect my father any chance I could. I'd always throw his alcoholism in his face when he tried to discipline me. For example, when I was in grade 11, I had a few drinks & came home from a party at about 4 am. My dad said that was unacceptable & not to do it again. I just looked at him & said, "You mean like you do all the time?" He had nothing to say & just left the room. I just smirked & laughed to myself thinking how clever I was. I did that to him a lot as a teen acting out my frustrations. I was angry & I have carried that anger with me my entire life although I deal with it better than I did when I was younger.
Some of you here have experienced first hand that anger & for that I'm sorry. I am trying to do better. Thank God, I never became a violent partner in my marriage of 36 years. I've never laid a finger on my wife or had the thought ever crossed my mind. For which I'm eternally grateful having grown up in that looney tunes house of mine. Things could have gone bad in my life but they never did.