1. As soon as the word addict is spoken in a conversation everyone gets a mental image of
who they think an addict is. For some people it is an image of an unemployed, homeless, or
troubled person, someone who has no hope of ever getting help or even deserving help. For me,
the answer is a little different. An addict is my father, Buddy, who is still in active addiction. An
addict is my step-father, Billy, who is a recovering alcoholic. An addict is my best friend,
Michael, who succumbed to his addiction. Throughout my life I have come to learn that anyone
can be an addict.
My dad has been drinking for as long as I can remember. He has never sought
professional help even though he has hit what I consider a low, which is being arrested in front
of his child. Growing up with him, I knew he was a hard worker. I always had the things I
needed, and I never went without. As I got older I stopped talking communicating and going
around him, the alcohol was more than I could handle at that time. Sometimes I questioned his
love for me, but I never had to question his love for the alcohol.
My step-dad is a recovering alcoholic. He has always been a hard working, independent,
self-motivator when it came to business and everyday things. His alcohol use started slowly and
got progressively worse as time went on. It snowballed out of control until finally he hit his low.
He opted for treatment, which was the best thing that could have happened. I look at him now
and I know what recovery is. It looks like our life right now at this very moment; happy,
stressful, meaningful, and full of ordinary things without the worry of what kind of mood he will
come home in or how many beers he is going to have tonight. It is no longer worrying about
saying the right or wrong things. It is about loving and respecting each other and living one day
at a time. “Just for today….with God’s help” is my stepdad’s motto.

2. Michael had been using and drinking since his senior year of high school; he had tried it
because “it was the thing to do”. He had a very promising career as a professional baseball player
until the addiction started to show its true colors. The dedicated athlete became lazy. The caring
son became harsh and distant. The selfless man became selfish. When Michael would hit a low,
he would realize that the life of an addict was not for him so he would proceed to check himself
into rehab. He would go through the program, graduate, then after a while he would use again.
He hit low after low after low, and his parents just kept putting him back into rehab after rehab
after rehab. The will power was there, but the power of the addiction was stronger every time. He
was able to find a good, stable, hardworking job and he wanted very badly to stay clean, but it
just was not in his cards. After five years and six rehabs Michael Saenz lost his battle with
addiction.
An addict is not someone who has no job or home; more often than not they have a
spectacular home with people there who love and support them. An addict is not someone who
does things in spite of you; the addiction is the one that makes the choices. An addict can be your
next door neighbor, spouse, friend, or child. The faces of addiction are numerous and continually
growing. These three men in my life have helped me to understand what it means to be an addict
and the family member of an addict. They have taught me that treatment alone is not the answer;
treatment, meetings, support, love, and acceptance are some of the keys to beating this disease.
To me, addiction is a wicked disease that takes hold of the addict along with their family and
loved ones’ lives. Sometimes it takes an act of God to get their (the addicts) attention about what
road their life is going down and where they are going to end up if they do not make a drastic
change. Even if friends and family push an addict into choosing rehab or some form of treatment

3. they cannot expect the outcome to always be a good one. A change cannot happen unless the
addict makes a decision by themselves for themselves.