It’s tough seeing one’s parent wreck things with irresponsible drinking. The thing is, children have very little chance of helping them unless they want to be helped, which your dad obviously doesn’t.

My dad’s the same, and the only way I’ve been able to deal with it is to let go: to let him do what he does, and let mom take it, as she’s obviously decided that’s what she deserves — another common point for us, this perverse union of consentual sufferers. There’s nothing I can do about it, so as long as it doesn’t affect me directly (as I’m on my own), I focus on turning a blind eye. Their selfdestruction won’t annihilate me.

Let them self-destruct. It won’t annihilate me.