Why I'm Worried About my Uncle.

I know, I'm slacking on my "I Like...Because..." posting, but I need to get this off my mind first and foremost today.

Last week, as you all know, my uncle Terry Ludwick's mother Dorothy died. She was 82. And as I stated, my uncle is doing fine, "so far".

There's a reason I use that terminology.

My aunt Kathy, his then-estranged wife, intentionally OD'ed on drugs on August 14, 2007. Right after she died, he began to spiral out of control completely. From that point on, he was, for all intents and purposes, an alcoholic.

As such, he became increasingly difficult to be around. I even went so far as to distance myself from him from the end of 2007, through all of 2008 and into this year, because he wasn't the kind of person I wanted to associate with.

Now hear me out. I do realize he is my family no matter what he and my aunt went through, the fact they split up, etc.. But...being around him was not helping my mental state and at the time I was, and continue to be to this day, prone to severe mood swings, stress attacks, and other things. It wasn't healthy for me and I knew it, so I distanced myself from him. He has gotten better...but here's the thing: he's hanging around with someone who is not a good influence, does drugs, etc.. And that's not someone I want to be around, either.

If he goes back to the bottle, and I think it's a distinct possibility, I will have to go back to distancing myself from him. Do I really want to do that? No...but for my own health, I will have no choice.

So now you know...