The
first time I remember getting drunk I
was 10 years old. According to my father, I was actually eight months old--he'd
put liquor in my baby bottle. My parents divorced when I was four, and my father
returned to Georgia and eventually remarried. My sister and I went to live with
my father and his new family when I was 9. During my two and a half years in
Georgia, my grandfather sexually abused me, and my alcoholic father emotionally
and physically abused me, as did his wife. As a child I didn't understand any
of this. I looked for a way to cope and to forget. My father provided the
perfect outlet I needed to survive.
During
one of his weekend poker parties, where alcohol was plentiful and easily accessible,
I asked my father if 
