Rought Week for the Hooper Clan
Its been a tough week for us Hoopers. I get back from my vacation, and not 48 hours in I get a call from my sister. My dad's been on a bit of a binge, drinking himself sorry. The man has been an alcoholic his whole life - but I've come to terms with it. He likes to drink - its been his indulgence his whole life. He says to me - "Stan, I've been working my ass off these last 50 years now, and one of my few pleasures has been a cold beer at the end of the day". Problem is alcohol is a sneaky fucking drug - when has a beer ever stopped at one?
Its a weird thing having to care for your parent. My dad, his entire life, was a chew nails and shit bullets kinda man. This was the man who used to throw plates at me when I was a cheeky 14 year old. To see him now in his late 60s, drunk as a fucker, still dealing with self esteem issues that have plagued him longer than I have been alive has been... a curious experience. To hear your father talk about his own feeling towards *his* dad has been weird... to watch him fall on his ass drunk and smack his head only to say there's nothing in there anyways... its weird dealing with parents weaknesses and insecurities. I stayed at his house on Monday to make sure he didn't fall down and break his neck... and he seemed genuinely grateful that I was there. He sobered up the next day and went back to his girlfriends...
Then my grandmother died at the age of 95... but I think that deserves a separate post.
All I gotta say is how grateful I am to the gods that I had a break to re-muster my emotional forces to deal with all this. Otherwise it might have been me calling in the cavalry for support...
Its a weird thing having to care for your parent. My dad, his entire life, was a chew nails and shit bullets kinda man. This was the man who used to throw plates at me when I was a cheeky 14 year old. To see him now in his late 60s, drunk as a fucker, still dealing with self esteem issues that have plagued him longer than I have been alive has been... a curious experience. To hear your father talk about his own feeling towards *his* dad has been weird... to watch him fall on his ass drunk and smack his head only to say there's nothing in there anyways... its weird dealing with parents weaknesses and insecurities. I stayed at his house on Monday to make sure he didn't fall down and break his neck... and he seemed genuinely grateful that I was there. He sobered up the next day and went back to his girlfriends...
Then my grandmother died at the age of 95... but I think that deserves a separate post.
All I gotta say is how grateful I am to the gods that I had a break to re-muster my emotional forces to deal with all this. Otherwise it might have been me calling in the cavalry for support...