Thus The Story Begins

First of all, I recognize the fact that alcoholism is a disease. I consider it an infectious disease that affects everyone in the alcoholics life. The alcoholic does not realize that. It affected me, even as his roommate, more than I am willing to admit. I am trying to make light of a very serious, debilitating illness but I can only deal with serious issues with my sense of humor. It seems to be the only way I can process information and I deal with it the only way I know how.

My friend referred to Steve as a "functioning alcoholic." I was not exactly sure what that meant but I quickly learned the meaning. You could not tell how much Steve had to drink at any point during the day but if he got to where he was falling down drunk, he had drank enough to kill 99.9 percent of the human population. In the 10 1/2 months he was my roommate, I only saw him that way three times although he drank from the time he woke up until the time he went to bed.