Alcoholic; what comes to mind as you read that word? Every choice you make affects people around you whether you know it or not. Things you say, things you do, and maybe even things you don't say and do can change lives. Life gives us the ability to make mistakes. It also gives us the chance to better ourselves. It's up to us to decide how we want to go about this one life we get to live. "An alcoholic is a person who suffers from alcoholism. They have a distinct physical desire to consume alcohol beyond their capacity to control it, regardless of all rules of common sense" (MNT Editor, 2009).
             I've grown up without grandparents on my father's side. His mom passed away when he was in adolescence and his father passed a few months before he married my mother, almost twenty six years ago now. He died of alcoholism. It says cancer on his death certificate, but it was the kind that was never seen in someone who wasn't a heavy drinker. Growing up in a home without a mother is one thing, but my dad and his siblings also had to deal with having an alcoholic as a father. All three of them were abused, physically and mentally. My Aunt being the oldest basically raised my father and uncle as long as she could take it. She moved out once she turned legal age, the same goes with my dad. The two of them have tried to block the memory and the pain out their minds. They've chosen to ignore it and to learn from it, never allowing them to follow in the footsteps of their father. My Uncle didn't get so lucky. Him being the about ten years younger than my aunt and dad, he was affected the most by my grandfathers addiction to alcohol. This addiction has haunted my uncle his entire life, being a major contributor to him becoming an alcoholic himself. Alcohol addiction has major affects on a family. Children of alcoholics suffer especially; causing developmental problems, long term emotional damage, and uncertainty ...