A Life Turned Upside Down My Dad's An Alcoholic

Okay, buckle up buttercups! I'm about to tell you a story. A story that involves talking parrots (not really, but wouldn't that be awesome?), questionable dance moves, and enough 'dad jokes' to fill a small country. The kind of story that begins with "Once upon a time..." and ends with "Wait, did that really just happen?"

My life was pretty normal. School, friends, pizza Fridays, you know the drill. Until one day, BAM! The plot thickens. My dad, my incredibly awesome, always-there-with-a-bad-joke-and-a-hug dad, started acting... different.

The Shift: From Super Dad to Super...Something Else

It wasn't like a light switch flipping. It was more like a dimmer switch slowly turning down. He started missing family dinners, smelling faintly of something other than his usual aftershave, and his jokes? Let's just say they went from dad-level funny to dad-level... awkward. Enter, the elephant in the room: My dad was an alcoholic.

Now, picture this. You're trying to explain the Pythagorean theorem to your little brother, and your dad's in the living room, belting out 80s power ballads off-key. Loudly. While wearing a Hawaiian shirt inside out. It was chaos. Glorious, slightly terrifying chaos.

The "Everything's Fine!" Phase

Of course, nobody actually *said* the word "alcoholic." We were all masters of the "everything's fine" game. It's like we were acting in a play, but the script was written by someone who had never actually seen a family before. Awkward silences became our specialty.

My mom started speaking in code. "He's having a *'rough time'*." Rough time? He was single-handedly keeping the local liquor store in business! Let's call a spade a spade.

The Upside-Down World

Suddenly, I was responsible for things I shouldn't have been. Making sure dinner was cooked, reminding my dad about appointments (that he usually missed anyway), and becoming a professional defuser of awkward situations. My childhood became a crash course in crisis management.

School plays? Forget about it. Family vacations? Canceled. Spontaneous trips to the ice cream parlor? Replaced with tense car rides and worried glances. My world had been flipped upside down. It was like living in a sitcom, but without the laugh track.

Finding My Footing (and My Voice)

But here's the thing. Even in the middle of the chaos, I learned a lot. I learned the importance of self-care (bubble baths became my therapy). I learned that it's okay to ask for help (turns out, therapists are pretty cool people).

I learned to set boundaries. "No, Dad, I will not drive you to the store to buy more beer." It wasn't easy, but it was necessary. And most importantly, I learned that I wasn't alone.

Talking to friends, other family members, and even a school counselor helped me realize that many other people were going through similar situations. It's like joining a secret club that nobody actually wants to be a member of, but offers invaluable support.

"The bravest thing I ever did was continuing my life when I wanted to die." -Juliette Lewis

And guess what? My dad eventually got help. It wasn't a straight line, there were bumps and setbacks, but he's working on it. He's going to AA meetings, and it makes me so proud. The journey is far from over, but we are on our way.

So, if you're reading this and nodding your head because your life feels like a poorly written sitcom too, know this: you're not alone. It's okay to laugh (even when it feels wrong), it's okay to cry, and it's definitely okay to ask for help. And who knows, maybe one day you'll even be able to laugh about the time your dad wore a Hawaiian shirt inside out and sang karaoke at 3 AM.