The fifth of this month my only brother would have celebrated his 71st birthday. Instead he succumbed to alcoholism 11 years ago. I only wish he’d of been able to grasp the concepts of the 12 step programs, as it might have saved his life.
Toward the end, when was living in his pickup truck, he attempted to get sober at TLC. He spent around six months at our Las Vegas facility. While there he made a half hearted attempt to change.
However, when he’d go to the required 12-step meetings he was unable to relate. He’d say he wasn’t like the others at the meeting because he hadn’t been in jail. And he hadn’t lived for years on the streets.
But I knew better because I used to drink with him periodically over the years. It was rare when he didn’t have alcohol in his body. He'd usually wake up at night and drink to pass out again. And for many years he drank a case of beer a day. He also mixed in pot and a little speed. He was one of us in every sense of the word. He just wouldn’t admit he was powerless.
Finally he left TLC in anger, telling the manager “f….. you and f…. TLC.” That indirect communication was the last I heard from him.
Six months later his ex-wife let me know he was in the hospital in Las Vegas. By the time I got there he was in a coma. He died May 20, 2001.
I’ve always regretted that he couldn’t have gotten the same message I heard so many years ago.
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