Thank You

There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t think about college. It used to be I had years until college. Now it’s I have months. Soon it’ll be weeks and then days. I’m not the type of person who is excited about leaving. I’d rather stay at home. Looking forward into the future makes me look back on the past. I’ve had such a good childhood. Why would I ever want to leave it?

My mom. She does everything for me. She makes my lunch, does my laundry, vacuums my room. She has done so much for me that I’ve never had to wash a pile of laundry or fold my clothes. I’ve never had to worry about making my lunch. There is always a meal at the end of the day and someone to talk to after school.

My dad. He supports me in whatever I do. He pushes me without forcing me to do things. He’s there at my ski races, watching me race on the skies he tuned for two hours the night before. He drove me to eight colleges this summer and it is because of me he put 17,000 miles on his car in 4 months. And, yet, he doesn’t care because the only thing that matters to him is that I’m happy in life.

My parents. Together they have raised me to be who I am. I am indebted to them forever. They’ve paid for my skies, my soccer camps, my flight to Italy, my clothes, my movie tickets. They’ve driven me to soccer games, ski races, friends’ houses, piano lessons, doctor’s appointments. They’ve done all of this for me and don’t expect anything in return.

So as my last birthday at home came and went, and as my last Thanksgiving before college comes and goes, I just want to say:

Mom and Dad, thank you. Thank you for all that you’ve done for me. Thank you for raising me the way you have and thank you for always being there for me. Thank you for all of those mornings you saw me off to school and thank you for all of those nights you tucked me into bed. Thank for all of those hugs and kisses you gave me and thank you for all those lectures and speeches you told me. Thank you for always believing in me and thank you for never giving up on me. Thank you for always loving me and I hope you know I love you too. I hope I make you proud because I couldn’t be prouder to call you my mom and dad.

Alcoholism

The children of alcoholics were often overlooked in the past. Attention was always placed on the alcoholic himself to get him into treatment for his substance abuse. However, today it is just as important to treat the child because he or she can break the “three generation” disease of alcoholism. The child must realize that he or she needs not to continue the cycle. An emphasis has now been placed on the idea that anyone can break the addictive cycle. The children of alcoholics are not destined to live their parents’ lives. So how then does Jeannette Walls break away from alcoholism? If no one treated her, how is she able to fight the statistic that children of alcoholics are three times more likely to continue the cycle and become alcoholics?

Firstly, Jeannette is able to channel the emotional effects of an alcoholic parent into positive motivation to break the cycle. The embarrassment and anger she sometimes feels toward her father drives her to leave Welch and all its troubles behind. These emotions bring her to New York City, to Barnard, to a successful career in journalism.

I climbed in next to the driver. On the way home—with Dad still singing away in the back, extending the word “low” so long he sounded like a mooing cow—the man asked me about school. I told him I was studying hard because I wanted to become either a veterinarian or a geologist specializing in the Miocene period, when the mountains out west were formed. I was telling him how geodes were created from bubbles in lava when he interrupted me. “For the daughter of the town drunk, you sure got big plans,” he said. (183)

Her father is known as the town drunk and, yet, this will not hinder her hopes and ambitions. Jeannette will not follow in her father’s footsteps. She harnesses the shame she feels from his substance abuse to prove everyone wrong. The daughter of an alcoholic, or the child of any alcoholic for that matter, needs to set high goals in order to break the continuous cycle. If the child has nothing to live for, then why should he or she stop the addiction? Jeannette’s emotions give her the determination to not live a life of addiction and they ultimately lead her to success.

While Jeannette does not have the parental support a child needs, she does have strong support from her siblings. Both Brian and Lori (more so than Maureen) help Jeannette to break the cycle. Because of alcoholism and other problems in the family, the children grow to be independent. This independence allows them to set examples for each other to follow.

Brian grabbed the bottle out of my hand. He emptied it into the kitchen sink, then led me out to the shed and opened up a wooden trunk in the back marked TOY BOX. It was filled with empty liquor bottles. Whenever Dad passed out, Brian said, he took the bottle Dad had been drinking, emptied it, and hid it in the trunk. He’d wait until he had ten or twelve, then tote them to a garbage can a few blocks away, because if Dad saw empty bottles, he would get furious. (113)

By emptying his father’s liquor bottles, Brian sets an example for Jeannette; alcoholism is not a path to take. Such sibling support contributes to their success in breaking the cycle. Without Brian or Lori, Jeannette would surely see the destructive nature of alcoholism, but would not have the guidance to tell her the life of an alcoholic is not a life to live.

While The Glass Castle is a memoir of hardships, it is also one of success. Jeannette is able to break away from poverty, abuse, and alcoholism. She defies statistics and is able to create a life for herself.

Walls, Jeannette. The Glass Castle. New York: Scribner, 2005.