I’d never met the man, but I’d known his wife and son for a few years. They worked at the same recovery business I worked for. And she often spoke to me of his drinking. How she was afraid it would soon kill him.
Once in a while she'd ask me to speak to him about his drinking, a twelve step call. Maybe she thought I could persuade him to get help. But it took a while before I finally had a chance to meet him.
It was when he was at the end of a drinking binge, while he was recovering in the Veteran's Hospital.
He was quite ill from the effects of nonstop drinking. However, he was a coherent and bright man. He was a good conversationalist, except when it came down to the topic of recovery. When I tried to get him to talk about drinking he'd quickly change the subject.
So I'd share my own experience with him and he seemed at times like he might be listening.
Before the visit was over I invited him to come into our recovery program where he could get some real help.
He replied, "I'll give that some consideration."
I don't know whether he considered it or not because I never spoke to him again.
The next time I talked to his wife she told me he never quit drinking and died about two weeks after our visit.
