STEPPING UP TO THE PLATE: A Family Affected by Alcoholism & Kept in the Game by Faith
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My parents met in the 1950s while in high school in Rock Falls, their home town. Dad was a basketball player and Mom loved the sport and that was part of the attraction. He was a couple of years older and went on to play basketball and attend the community college in town. They started their married life together young when Mom was just 17 and had three children by the time they reached the ages of 22 and 20. I came five years later. I don’t remember us as a family – all six of us together, which I truly regret. Yes my parents, Rick & Betsy started out young, but on a fairly stable journey. My dad finished his college degree at Northern University and took on a teaching and coaching job in a small town in Iowa. Life was pretty normal. Mom cared for us while dad worked and we had many friends in our little community. It was fun being a coach’s family according to what I have heard from my family. There were some great times and good family memories. Fast forward to my adult life looking back…I am the youngest of four children (one sister, Nancy and two brothers, Bill and Seth). I write as the daughter of an alcoholic father whom my mother divorced when I was only five years old. My mother went to work in a factory and raised us on her own after our lives began to fall apart and she divorced my dad. My dad, Rick Nelson, committed embezzlement and went to prison for his crime. He let alcoholism overcome him and he basically never found his way back in the game of life. I have a faint memory of an aunt and uncle taking us kids to see Dad while in prison one time. During our childhood in Rock Falls, he would breeze in and out of our lives and we never knew where he was or how to reach him. As I child I never understood this, why he didn’t step up to the plate to help raise us? Why didn’t he provide for us or pay child support? Didn’t he love us or care for us? How could he leave Mom with the burden? How could his way of life be more important than being a father to his four children despite the marriage ending? Why did he not want our family life? Did he not realize his responsibility? I searched for a way to understand most of my childhood.
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About the Book
Do you have trouble understanding alcoholism? Have you or your family and friends been challenged by it? Read the journey of one family deeply affected by generations of alcoholism in their lives. Learn how living in reality and also by faith can be the key to stepping up to the plate in your circumstances. Find ways to accept what you can and cannot change to move forward with your own life. Consider ways to use faith to help cope with the destruction alcoholism can cause, including the challenges of divorce. Learn that in the game of life, God can be your most valuable player.
About the Author
The three greatest gifts in my life are faith, family and friends. My faith has been constant and has played a huge role in the challenges I have faced throughout my childhood and adult life. Alcoholism has plagued my family for generations and it continues to negatively affect so many and so much. I wanted to share what I have learned from life experiences and my faith related to alcoholism, family relationships, and divorce in order to help others. I want my family and others to learn that faith is the key to staying in the game of life and achieving their own victory.
I live in the Midwest and have worked as a secretary for an educational institution for 25 years. I have many wonderful friends and a very loving family. I was married for 21 years and have been divorced for two years. I am blessed daily to be raising three amazing sons. I enjoy supporting their many activities and being a mother more than anything else in the world. I also enjoy sports, reading, writing, studying faith, music and piano, walking and the outdoors. The photo on my book cover was taken by me one beautiful fall day while walking at one of my favorite locations in my hometown.