My uncle overdosed and is up in heaven now...

[Ultralight]

Well, it appears as though my dopioid uncle met his maker today. He was either gobbling or snorting pills, though it is possible he had a spike in his arm. We're still waiting on details.

Just a couple years ago his son, at age 19, was drunk driving at 1am and smashed his truck into an oak tree. The engine pushed into the cab and trapped him in there while the car caught on fire and was eventually engulfed in flames. He burned to death.

His daughter is a "recovering" junkie too. She now works as a bartender in Chicago. My prediction: She will be "clean" for about 5 minutes.

My aunt is an active alcoholic, though she was clean from about 1984 - 2000. She drinks daily now, she actually drank at the bar with her son (the 19 year old who burned to death).

[Chicken lady]

UltraliteAngler,
i'm truly sorry about your family.

[Ultralight]

Thanks. I am annoyed and unsettled, but it is not expected.

[Zoe Girl]

I am sorry, it seems like you have had more than your fair share of addictions. It is very painful to watch that, and lose people.

[Simplemind]

Even though it isn't unexpected due to the long slow slide, it is still hard to hear. There is a branch in my own family that is one tragedy after another. It is never about if you get the call but when. It is unsettling and I'm sorry you are going through this.

[Yppej]

Have you gone to Nar Anon or Al Anon?

[rosarugosa]

I'm sorry, UA. It always feels like such a sad waste of a life.

[catherine]

I'm so sorry, UA. I understand your annoyance, I really do. I get angry at alcohol all the time. One of my favorite lines is that one from Mommy Dearest where Joan Crawford (who was a clean freak) came home to find a ring of dirt around the potted plant in the white marble lobby. She yelled at her quaking housekeeper who started apologizing profusely.

But Joan said to her, "I'm not mad at YOU, Mary. I'm mad at the DIRT." That's how I feel about alcoholics. I'm never mad at them (well, sometimes I am). I'm really mad at the "dirt" that stole their souls. It really sucks.

[razz]

Funny to read an atheist writing about relatives going to heaven.
Addiction is a tragedy for everyone and so hard on families.

[nswef]

I'm sorry UL. It's a lot to process, feel and accept.

[ToomuchStuff]

Funny to read an atheist writing about relatives going to heaven.
Addiction is a tragedy for everyone and so hard on families.

I was thinking the same thing, along with where is this place, or is he embalmed in a bottle of Makers Mark?
In some "magical" land, singing a Huey Lewis song. While there are physical factors in addiction, there still is a choice one makes when they choose or not to seek help. Some people don't want to be saved.

[Tybee]

Wishing you peace with your loss, UL.

[pinkytoe]

So many lost souls these days. I send my regrets.

[Lainey]

Very true about this rampant addiction problem, pinkytoe. And I too lost a relative who was just entering middle-age but could not beat the alcohol demon. I helped with some of the practicalities of his life over the years - offering a spare room, selling him a car for cheap, but he could just not keep things together.
I know your loss is sad but can be conflicting at the same time, UA. So many of us are watching relatives, neighbors, or old friends with this monkey on their back and know there is not much we can do about it.

[ApatheticNoMore]

long term maintenance programs (like suboxone) probably would prevent many deaths, although of course they are probably bad for *long* term health, and it's managed addiction not cure. Doesn't do any good here anyway of course though. Maybe losing his son was the final straw, it has to be hard.

[Float On]

Sorry.

[Ultralight]

Have you gone to Nar Anon or Al Anon? I went to an Al Anon meeting or two when I was a little kid with my aunt. But this was back in the late 80s and early 90s. She has been back on the bottle for several years now. Why do you ask?

[Ultralight]

Funny to read an atheist writing about relatives going to heaven.
Addiction is a tragedy for everyone and so hard on families.I stole that line from Kurt Vonnegut. He delivered a eulogy at Isaac Asimov's funeral. He started out saying: "Isaac is up in heaven now." It got some sad people to giggle, apparently. So now I say it when someone I know dies. I find comfort in the sardonic.

[Ultralight]

I was thinking the same thing, along with where is this place, or is he embalmed in a bottle of Makers Mark?
In some "magical" land, singing a Huey Lewis song. While there are physical factors in addiction, there still is a choice one makes when they choose or not to seek help. Some people don't want to be saved.
1. Haha! "I want to drug!"
2. Yeah, this guy was 64 and had been a junkie on-and-off all his life.

[Chicken lady]

I didn't know the Asimov reference. I'm glad to here it, I figured it was just bitter irony.

[ToomuchStuff]

I'm glad to here it, I figured it was just bitter irony.

If it wasn't, it probably would have been feelings from a religious relative.
I have some friends who are asking for prayers/well wishes, after the husband (LEO and friend) was shot in the head a couple weeks back. For them, religion is hope.

[Yppej]

UA the Anon groups (as opposed to AA and NA) provide support for family members. A few years ago I attended a Nar Anon group with several mothers who had lost children to opiate overdoses. They found it helpful.

[Tybee]

UA the Anon groups (as opposed to AA and NA) provide support for family members. A few years ago I attended a Nar Anon group with several mothers who had lost children to opiate overdoses. They found it helpful.
I bet there are a lot of NarcAnon groups in your area, OP. Opioids are such an enormous problem there. It can really help to deal with one's anger.