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How David Sedaris Showed Me What My Alcoholism Looks Like to Others
If he didn’t save my life, he added years to it.
About seven months ago, I embarked on another attempt at sobriety.
It hadn’t been going very well.
I decided to take a step back from all the heavy alcoholism reading and find something to read or listen to for enjoyment and picked up “Calypso” by David Sedaris.
David Sedaris is a an American humorist, so when I picked up “Calypso” it was to decompress, laugh, and be entertained by one of my favorite authors.
Why Aren’t You Laughing?
One hour and forty-one minutes into the audiobook, my alcoholism was exposed to me in a way that changed everything.
During a story of his infatuation with the TV program “Intervention”, he interweaves a narrative of him as a child and young adult, watching his mother’s struggle with alcoholism and the progression it took throughout her life.
He described his mother as a “lady” and “an alcoholic”.
“Another reason Intervention makes me think about my mother is that, she was an alcoholic. It’s a hard word to use for someone you love. And so my family avoided it. Rather we’d whisper among ourselves that. . . mom, had a problem. That she could stand to cut back.” — David Sedaris, Calypso; 6:10:06
No one in David’s family ever confronted his mother with her alcoholism.
For years, no one in my family ever said anything to me.
Not directly like, “Dude what the hell was that about last night?”
Some “next morning” side glances and avoidance told me everything. It was torture not knowing what I did.
How many of us have watched someone destroy their lives with alcohol and never said anything to them about it?
I know I have, but I was right down there in the shit with them.
How many of you struggling with addiction know everyone around you is aware that you have a “little problem and could stand to cut back”, but have never confronted you with it?
