You’ve accepted defeat

Alcohol has you beat

I used to be able to talk to you

Now when I get home I stare at the floor and my shoe

I rush to my room I don’t want to see you

You drink, sleep, stare at your computer

The house is a mess

Baxter is lonely

Why do you do it mom?

We need you

I can’t have friends over

All I want to do is leave

I don’t want to say

Asleep again on the couch

Really? Again, cmon

1, 2, 3, 4 cans, a glass of wine

You've been doing this for far too long, way too much time

Something needs to change mom

Please

I cry in my bed and dread

What can I do?

When will it get better?

What happened?

I don’t know

We need you mom

The sober you

The real you

The mom I can talk to

The mom who used to love to cook

Opened the pages to the cooking book

Ingredients spread all over the counter

A healthy mess, not coffee and beer, a muddy mess getting browner

The mom whose car left the driveway

Productive, active, full of life every day

The mom who didn’t live on alcohol

But looked around and felt it all