My two beautiful daughters are blessings of my sobriety. Though neither has my disease, they have been impacted by my alcoholism and drug addiction - particularly my older daughter.
My oldest lives in California where she and my son-in-law are raising my two youngest grandchildren. Besides their regular jobs, they are pastors of a 200 member church. She’s loved and supported me through all of my addictions and jail terms. Once I got sober I realized how fortunate I am to have a human being like her who stuck with me through all of my insanity.
Because she was growing up during my addiction I never spent much time with her and was estranged from her mother. In spite of my neglect, her love for me never wavered.
My youngest daughter never experienced my addictions. She only has a faint memory of one time seeing me with a beer. She reinforced my commitment to sobriety because when I was sober two years I obtained legal custody of her. I raised her for 10 years - until she went into the Army at 18. She served in mission Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan - and other theaters - for three years. She suffered a hip injury while in Afghanistan and now receives 70% disability. While part of her disability is psychological, she hasn't let that keep her from completing two years of college at Texas Culinary Academy. And she's in the final stages of earning her bachelor's degree from the University of Phoenix. After that she’s going for her master’s degree.
It’s an understatement to say these girls are the blessings of my sobriety. I don't know too many people who have spent 40 years in their addictions and had much left when they got sober– especially relationships with important people.
My relationship with them is part of the promises come true.
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