Do you know what alcoholism really is and how it can affect someone's whole life? Well I know exactly how it affects someone’s life because it affects mine pretty hard, everyday. Alcoholism is an addiction to drinking alcohol so much that you become dependent on when you are drinking. Even if you know how negatively it affects you, you still decide to drink because you are that dependent. My mother has suffered from alcoholism since I was 10, but it has not always been like this. I’m going to tell you how my life was before alcoholism. First with how my mother obtained this addiction, how I felt and coped with it, and how my life has changed due to her addiction.

When I was 6 my dad got a huge job offer in Tennessee so my family had to pack up all of our things from our secluded house out in the country in Brooklyn, Iowa to a close packed neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee. That is when everything truly started because my mom would come home from work and want to just relax so she bought Vodka and drink it straight. At first it was not a problem at all and she was only drunk when I would be home and I thought nothing of it. After her starting to drink just to relax after work a couple days a week, it then turned into every day of the week and her behavior was changing now. When my mom would drink she would get very mean to my dad and I, she would hold me down on the couch because I annoyed her by asking too many questions about her day and how work was going. After so long I was beginning to get scared of my own mom and becoming very separated from her from all the pain I was feeling.

I was 14 when I really started to feel alone and wonder what I could do to help my mom because I did not recognize her anymore. I started to make new friends and do new things and find myself, but I got caught up in a bad friend group. I was making really bad decisions and not following my parents rules at all, not coming home at my curfew, sneaking out of the house, and just doing things a 14 year old should not be doing. I was starting to build a wall up, I made the rules in the house and I was not letting my mom put me down anymore.

My family is still dealing with her drinking to this day but it has got so much better than what it was, my mom and I have gained a relationship where we can listen and talk to each other, not for long though. I always thought my mom was never proud of me and just liked to put me down. I realized that my mom just has a weird way of showing me how much she truly cares about me. We still have arguments and are dealing with some things but every good thing takes time and I will be patient to have this relationship with my mom that I can picture in my head.