Day off from work today. I took my Mom to an appt. She had to have a biopsy after some test results came back suspicious. My Mom is also a CG. She has not come to that conclusion herself, but all the family is aware.
I really hate it for her, because she has lost so much money in the last few years that my Dad is very controlling of her. I can’t really blame him too much. She lies to us all a lot. She is so negative about everything and because he is an alcoholic, she feels she has the right to keep gambling. This is not her true personality. She is areally caring person, but gambling has made her an angry and agitated person. We only went together to the casino twice in all the years we have been gambling. I never told her when me and the hubby went because I knew she had a problem. Her and my Dad fight viciuisly about money. I told her about our self- excluding and she quickly changed the subject. I knew she had problems with gambling for years before I ever went myself. I even went to an intervention for her with my sister . I cant believe I let the same thing
happen to me!
This gambling issue runs deep in our family. When she was about 12, her father, my grandfather, was arrested for stealing money from his milk route. He had played poker with it and lost. She saw him taken away in handcuffs. Her brother was arrested for embezzlement from his job managing a gas station. He stole the scratchoff tickets, thousands of dollars. The whole family had to pitch in close to $30K to keep him out of prison. He died of a sudden heart attack at 52 about 6 months into his probation.
I am writing this to myself. To remind myself of the destruction this addiction has caused. I believe in familial curses. Iniquity traveling through generations. This has to stop here. I dont want to hand this to my kids. I hope its not too late as they are 16 and 21 already. They have watched their Dad and I and still see their Grandmother running to the casino every chance we could/can.
I really hate what gambling has done to my family. I can only try to make positive choices for myself going forward and keep praying for my Mom.
