Foggy

At dinner that night we talked about the kids’ plans. Brat Boy would leave for Pitt in the fall to study electrical engineering.  Blondie was talking about going to graduate school.  What had happened to the little kids I used to watch cartoons with?

A friend of mine had struggled with drinking while his kids were growing up. He’d said his recollection of their childhoods was like a merry-go-round in a thick fog.  He’d get deep into the bottle, their lives would keep turning, he’d sober up, and when they came back around they were older.  One day they left home and he hasn’t seen much of them since.

Brat Boy’s and Blondie’s childhoods had spun past too fast for my liking, but I hadn’t been in a fog. I remembered the little girl who followed me everywhere.  I thought of the boy who couldn’t wait to show me what he’d built from the 10 million piece construction set he’d gotten for Christmas. If I had been in an alcoholic fog, I would have missed most of it, and probably not known until it was too late what I was missing.

Today I’ll be grateful to be out of the fog.

Dogged Determination ©2018 & 2019 by Ken Montrose

Dogged Determination is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/