[AAthlete]

Pea, people who don't have this problem often have difficulty understanding what we are going through. To them picking up or putting down an alcoholic drink is no different then a glass of water.

I don't think that you should let your family go over this - quite the contrary. BUT, you are now going to have to decide what is truly important to you. Is it important to you to continue your attempts to moderate knowing what the outcome of a slip probably is? Or, is having your family around the most important thing to you?

I know how you feel, because this is EXACTLY what happened to me. My wife was fed up with my drinking, fed up with me not doing anything about it, and was ready to call it quits. That was my bottom, and it was the motivation I needed to truly start working a program to stop drinking.

The bottom line is, this is doable, you can become the person that you want to be, but it is also A LOT OF HARD WORK!! As much as we would like to get kudos for not drinking for a week, that's not the way it happens. My wife was always wondering when I was going to get plastered again... maybe a week, ...maybe a month..... she knew it would happen at some point though.... because I hadn't changed....

It wasn't until I truly committed to working a program, that she could truly see a change in me and my attitudes, that she started to think that another bender might not be around the corner. It's not a short process and it will always, ALWAYS be somewhere in the back of their mind. I stopped into a local liquor store awhile ago because they have a large selection of quality cigars in their humidor. Wife saw the receipt from there and here first thought was MAYBE I slipped - but this time I got the benefit of the doubt and she asked first before jumping to conclusions.

I'm sorry that you are hurting and in pain, and if there is anything I can do please let me know. But, you need to ask yourself, "what's important to you"?