Tough Decisions

Michael and I have had a couple tough conversations in the last week regarding my dad drinking again. The problem is that 1. He's drinking again (duh) and 2. He's really good at hiding how much he's had to drink. So after a lot of tough consideration, we finally came to the conclusion that things need to change.

We were hoping that we would be able to leave Ellie with Pappy and Grammie occasionally so that we could go visit places like Branson, MO. However that's not possible anymore. Unfortunately we decided that due to Pappy drinking again, some things have to change.

1. We will not leave her alone with him for any long duration of time. It's not that I think Pappy would do anything to hurt her, but I wouldn't trust anyone who has been drinking to take care of her.

2. We will not allow him to drive with us in the car. Can you imagine how torn up the family would be if something were to happen to Ellie while he was driving? From now on, we drive. Period.

Seriously, the problem stems from the fact that we won't ever really know how much he has been drinking. I think it's unfortunate for us to need to resort to these decisions, but I also think it's a no-brain-er.

On a slightly unrelated topic, I recently became friends with someone who is dealing with the same thing, only locally. Her mother-in-law started drinking again, and she had to take away her weekly afternoon with the grandkids. At least I don't have to deal with it on a regular basis. I only have to worry about it on the occasional times that we are fortunate enough to see Pappy. It could be worse.