Addiction: No respector of persons

It doesn't care who you are. It doesn't care what you do for a living, or how much money you make. It doesn't care what religion you are. It doesn't care if you are young, old, or anywhere in between. The problem is, most that are taken are done so unwillingly. It is addiction. In my life, it got my Grandfather and my Husband.

My name is Natalie, and I'm married to an alcoholic/addict. I met my husband when I was 16, started dating him when I was 17, and married him when I was 21. And yes, I did know he was an addict when I married him. This is very hard for a lot of people to understand, but to those people, I would ask this. If you knew the love of your life had cancer, would you leave them to fight their disease alone? And yes, I do believe that addiction is a disease. Man, is that a hot topic in the medical field. I'm outraged at what some are saying, that addiction is a "choice". That's got to be a topic for another posting, because I could go on and on. Never mind the fact that the brain chemistry is changed once addiction has set in. But, like I said, another post.

I am starting this blog for a couple of reasons. First, I believe it will be therapeutic for me. My husband is just 4 days shy of being one year sober, and I am realizing that it's time to work on my own recovery, now that he has got a pretty good handle on his. Second, if by some random chance that someone actually reads this, maybe it will help them. When my husband relapsed for the first time as my husband, not my boyfriend, I was terrified. I wanted to protect him from other's judgements, so I didn't talk about it. To anyone. I was completely alone in my fears for myself and for him, and I didn't have to be. Little did I know that there were thousands of people out there in my situation. Man, would it have helped to know what other's were going through. Maybe this blog can be that for somebody.