The family tradition

partyandBS

Active member
i was gonna post this in the rant but then it was way longer and i wanted it to be separate so i could refrence it in the future. just a lot of thoughts for this tiny brain that i wanted to get out. such is life

the van de wetering curse. thats what my mom calls it. others call it major depressive disorder and substance use disorder. call it what you will but its killing her entire family. some before i was born, some after. 1 uncle committed suicide by jumping off a building. 1 uncle overdosed on herion. 1 aunt tried to intentionally overdose and was in the psych ward for a bit and shortly after she got out she died in an electrical fire. the others seem to think they are above that. but they all drink everyday.

now i got a front row seat to watch it kill my mom. but its always been a problem. on my 15th birthday while i was alone outside she was drowning an immense mental pain with a bottle of jack. i came in and she was grinding her teeth with a knife in her hand staring straight ahead. i just went back outside and shot the basketball alone like nothing was happening. my dad came home from work to the scene and noticed an empty pill bottle. eventually she left in an ambulance and we didnt see her for 3 days. as the ambulance pulled out, i was standing on the balcony staring into the forest. my dad found me. asked if i was alright. i was shut down and didnt reply. he proceeded to say it wasnt my fault. i think he said it had to do with the spring weather. he talked at me for 1 or 2 minutes and then we never spoke about it again. none of us. happy birthday kid.

16 years have passed and now i watch as that same bottle of jack slowly and painfully has stamped in a nearing expiration date. her liver is scarred to the point that it is solid. unprocessed bile fills between her organs and her skin causing her belly to look extremely bloated. meanwhile she doesn’t eat. she has 2 or 3 bites a day and an ensure protein shake over 3 days. her body is eating her muscles to stay alive. her deformities oddly remind me of mike wazowski if he had a head with yellow eyes.

she fell this week. hopelessly crawling in search of something to grab and pull herself up. 8 fearful minutes of faint yells and soft fists hitting the floor before my dad arrived. he was unable to lift her from her arms to help her up. he had to lift her from her torso.

i spend every weekend down here and this weekend i can see the defeat in her soul. the hope that finally being sober will spare her her life seems to have dissipated drastically over the last 5 days. watching her die is certainly exhausting and taxing. i dont sleep or eat. my mental state is all over the place. i frequently have nightmares. i somehow find myself going on long rants in my head about my exwife that i cant seem to get out of. it always starts with how we would see her family 2,000 miles away more frequently than we would see mine less than 150 miles away and how fuckin bitchy she was anytime we were with my family and then it just spirals from there. now all of a sudden she steals more of my time without even being there.

its all draining and impacting my work, my hobbies and my relationships or lack there of. And its only getting worse from here. increased pressures at work as we ramp up for winter and then the holiday season decreased health conditions for my family.

i can honestly say i am doing everything i can at the moment. i am 225 days sober after all. which means it was 224 days since i was in the hospital awaiting transport to the denver psych ward listening to my sobbing mom say that i had it. the van de wetering curse
 
My guy, that's a lot and I hope/pray for you and your family. One of the high points of the last year on NS has been you celebrating your sobriety and you seem to have plenty of self awareness of all the family stuff. You'll be the one to break the curse, you got this.
 
he'll yea to the 225 days of sobriety, with all the shit you got going on glad to hear that you are sticking to it. Sorry to hear about your mom wishing the best for your family.
 
we with u homie, much love and much support your way.

sobriety is fucking tight, its been 2 years since I been drunk and 1 year since I've drank any form of alcohol. Decided to rebel against the midwest cultural/family tendency toward the bottle shortly after my 21st birthday after spending a lot of my time in HS drinking and feeling like shit because of it

keep it going brother, 225 is fuckin beautiful, I believe in u
 
Thats so tough man cant imagine how youre feeling. Props on the sobriety though thats amazing.

I can relate to you on the internal ranting thing, I find myself often doing the same thing especially in bed when I'm supposed to be falling asleep. Its tough to turn it off, you just keep ruminating in some negative thing youre lowkey pissed about. Lately Ive been finding a bit of yoga or reading really helps to slow the mind down, maybe it will for you too.

Best of luck dude and just remember all things pass with time. I hope you can look back one day and see you and your family are in a better space.
 
Damn that's heartbreaking. Sounds like an intense thing to experience and I wish your mom and family the best luck they can get. The silver lining, I guess, is how motivating it must be to stay sober. I agree with [tag=258251]@r00kie[/tag] that it has been so awesome watching you hit sobriety milestones this last year, especially despite life bringing many hurdles. Keep your head up!
 
Homie, I am sorry to hear this. Curses/traditions are bizarre for sure but sounds like you are breaking those chains. Hang in there, vibes to you and your family. May you find the strength to keep doing what you are doing along with finding a way to deal and cope with all that is going on around you. Shit like this is not easy and and I tip my hat to anyone going through stuff like this but just know lots of us here are rooting for you! Like others have said, its been super cool to see your posts about your sobriety, your affiliation with the industry and being a positive example for many. Keep powering through, I cant say things are going to get any easier but just know you got some homies if you ever need anything.
 
Always love seeing your updates in NSG, congrats on 225 days.

It can be hard, I can't relate to what you're experiencing, but I feel you.

Stay strong though dawg, couldn't imagine watching that happen to my own mom, just know your presence here is enjoyed- and I'd be real bummed if I saw your posts stop popping up in the forums.

And sorry to be an English teacher, but read "A River Runs Through It" sometime. It's a quick 120 pages and it's helped me through some hard times in my own life. I always go back to this one quote:

"She was never to ask me a question about the man she loved most and understood least. Perhaps she knew enough to know that for her it was enough to have loved him."

At the end of the day, all you can really do is be there for someone when they need you. Sometimes that isn't enough, but you're doing enough by at least being there.
 
Fuck that shit and sorry you're going through all that. Curses aren't real so don't believe that for a minute. If anything, it's an excuse. All this sounds like is some psychiatric disorders that run in the family compounded by frequent substance abuse and perpensity towards addiction (can be hereditary). Congratulations on being sober. Absolutely no reason you have to take the same path.

Not sure if this helps, but observation of the failures and mental/physical anguish of your relatives should provide motivation to stay clean. I have plenty of addicts and whacked out family members; simply a model for how not to live.
 
That shit ran in my family and my parents were the first generation to not be drunks/substance abusers. My mom was always especially worried about me becoming an alcoholic and I remember just being annoyed by her warnings but. As many of my childhood friends threw away their lives to drinking or drugs I grew to appreciate her warnings more and more. It's really hard to watch and you can only intervene so much. The bright side I've seen plenty of friends completely turn their lives around and do some great things. Hang in there, it's a tough world.
 
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