When You Were Drunk



It was the year 2002, in Pulaski Tennessee. I had just gotten home, to our double wide, from fifth grade. Around dinner time I hear my mom and dad yelling and dishes breaking. I can’t, didn’t want to; understand what insults were being flung. The one thing I did hear though was, “I’m leaving!” screeches my mom, as she storms into the living room, tears descending from her eyes. Since we didn’t want to get scolded, my sisters and I hid in a bedroom. We hear a lamp break. Then the front door slammed shut twice.

“Don’t look,” I utter to my siblings, as I stare out the window and into the night. I see my mom make a futile attempt to run, but is halted by my dad. He clutches her auburn hair, which forces her to collapse onto the ground. He forcibly drags her to the house. All the while her nails dredge into the ground in a feeble endeavor to stop him.

My grandpa, who lives right down the road, bolts to our home. My mom and dad are back inside as he comes in. We spill out of our room. “Pack children,” my grandpa demands, and we comply. Before I do though, I can see regret in my dad’s eyes. He knows he went too far.

I am cramped between my two younger sisters in the scanty backseat of my grandpa’s aged car. No one speaks a word, tension is thick. My sisters are clutching their hastily packed suitcases. All of the events from tonight are rushing through my head.

As we arrive at my grandpa’s house, we all file inside. “Go to the spare room,” my grandpa instructs. My siblings and I listen. I can hear my mom and grandpa discussing tonight’s events as I console my siblings through the night.

Today I don’t hate my dad of the mistake he made. I think of it as an obstacle our family had to overcome. My dad has been sober ever since that night. We all live together, joyfully. It has made me think though, of all the people who have lost loved ones because of drinking. Also how people who drink don’t see how its hurting their loved ones, I’m just so happy my dad has seen how it was hurting us and did something about it. I couldn’t be any happier then I am now.