That's very interesting you mention Al anon, for I've been considering going back and have been reading alot online.
Many years ago I did go to Al Anon because I've been around alcoholism ALL MY LIFE. My grandmother, mother, Aunt, step father and his family, and now ex husband and his mother. His mom has become a sad case.
The one thing I've really finally started to grasp about any "addict" is the mentality that it accompanies and how powerless the can become to the addiction. You can still love these people, but you have to accept what their priority is.
My ex is a man that has many "addictions" and does everything to the extreme.... and it comes with mood swings as well. I could never quite figure out if he was having mood swings due to the high his "new" thing was, or if was swinging low and self medicating through drink, food, material things, spending money, partying, etc. I do know he will gravitate to anything that makes him feel good regardless of what it costs him. And I still to this day wonder if he's bi polar.
He never was into drugs, is scared to take a tylenol, and can't drink due to it brining on serious bouts of gout!
So in a sense, his new wife and new family are a whole new high for him. I wonder once it gets ordinary and hectic if he'll start wishing he could leave. But then again who am I to even wonder about that.
I've gotten to the point that I've accepted he didn't love me anymore, moved on and this is the way life is now. But when he comes and goes with this mr nice mr chatty thing, then starts acting completely irrational with our 15 year old, then I get reports from our 12 year old how immature he acts around her, I think to myself " Yeah, he's just F****** crazy!"
