John

So I joked about cirrhosis earlier in the week, but I just got a call from my aunt saying her brother was dying. His lungs collapsed, and he's bleeding from the esophagus. It's been years that he's been sick - he has hepatitis C and is an alcoholic. He got the hep C from drug use. The don't think he'll make it through the weekend.

I've heard so many stories from people in AA who talk about looking at someone who has drunk themselves to death, and how petrifying it is. The people are all bloated, and just don't look the same. My aunt said she's bringing down his 2 boys in the morning, but I'm not sure that's a good idea. They're in their early 20's, but no one wants to remember their parents like that, sick and on a ventilator. I don't even know if John is conscious. I don't think he is.

What a thing to happen, and at Christmas. The moral of the story is: stop drinking like a fish. If you can drink A glass of wine every now and again (not every night or every hour), then go for it, but for those of us who can't, just stop it, damnit. You hurt yourself, but eventually you'll hurt everyone else.