In our line of work dealing with interlock devices, we meet so many people whose lives have been forever changed by their decision to drive after drinking. Ignition interlock device customers tell us all the time that they wish they could go back to the day they got a DUI and make a different choice.
But interlock users or people who have received a DUI or DWI are not the only ones affected by alcohol. Alcohol use and overuse cause so many problems for so many people.
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"My dad was an alcoholic."
This is the story of just one of those people:
A now grown woman shared her alcohol story with us. Her parents got divorced when she was 7. She remembers that for a few years, her dad would pick her up every other weekend. They would go to a restaurant/bar that his friend owned, and she would fall asleep at the table while her dad was in the bar. Eventually her dad got remarried and stopped communicating.
Other than a few random calls throughout the years, she had very little contact with her dad. Fast forward many years, she got a call when she was 44 saying her dad was not coherent and was about to die from liver failure. He had just gotten out of jail after a car accident that involved alcohol.
Would you visit?
She had not seen her dad since she was 16 but decided to visit him. He lived a few more months after that, and she never brought up the past to him.
"Sometimes I am angry. Sometimes disgusted. I always feel bad for the little girl who is me, whose life was forever changed because my dad was an alcoholic, like his father was." She told us about her hurt, but she never told her dad.
Alcohol Awareness
For many of us alcohol is "no big deal". We love a margarita with dinner or occasional drinks with friends but we can't really say it affects our life much. But that's definitely not true for everyone. This is just one story of just one person whose life has been affected by alcohol.
Do you need help?
As long as you won’t be getting behind the wheel, it’s probably fine to enjoy that after-work cocktail or a few beers at the fishing camp. But if you or someone you know has trouble keeping the alcohol intake at a healthy level, it’s time to get help. Smart Start of Louisiana offers tools such as ignition interlock devices to help with voluntary and mandated alcohol monitoring. We are here to help.
