@Smokin Joe
Reminded me of a friend of many years ago whose friends got drunk at his high school graduation. He had never drank before because his father was a raging drunk,and mean to boot.
He stayed drunk for the next few years,and "yes,he WAS the one that got a ticket for riding his bicycle down the road while drinking a beer,and having the other 5 hanging off his handlebars as he rode.
Unlike his father,he was not mean to anyone but himself.
He finally married a fat,ugly girl when he was in his early 20's,and damned if she didn't get him to stop drinking. Last I heard about him,they had a couple of kids and he had been working with the local power company ever since he sobered up. By then he may have even had enough time in with them to qualify for retirement,and was still sober.
That sort of thing almost never happens,but damned if it didn't happen for him,and I am glad it did. One of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet when he was sober.
It doesn't happen often, but it is good to see some folks pull up before they crash and burn.
Sometimes all they need is that 'talk' from someone who matters, sometimes it's the love of a woman whose personality matters a hell of a lot more than her looks, and a chance to do better without the almost permanent finger wagging and flapping lips that say they'll never change and would throw the kid away to be right.
I have seen one grandson do that, although I, at one point asked him to leave the house (he was just visiting) and not come back until he was clean. Grandma's was the family nexus, the 'lifeboat', and that put him in tears, but he did. I think that was his epiphany.
Now he has his own business and is doing well, cleaned up. Never stopped loving my grandson, but I had to be hard on him to get that to happen. Now, I'm proud of him.
You might not put much stock in it, but a lot of prayers went up for that boy (especially after I told him to leave), and I think it helped a lot.
