The Life of Addiction

The individuals that I have known during my lifetime who where most affected by addictions from drugs had to be my mother and father. My father, Larry Lavon Dyar, died last year from liver cancer due to his strong addiction he had to alcohol. As for my mother, Glennie Annette Thomas, addictions have led her to a point in her life of starting over. I think both their addictions where formed at a young age due to being raised by mentally ill parents and addicts. Larry Dyar was raised by an abusive father, who himself had an addiction to alcohol. Glennie Thomas's parents both coped with an addiction to alcohol, but the traumatic events in Ms. Thomas's life set her over the edge. Glennie Thomas married Larry Dyar when she was only seventeen years old in order to escape her home life. Unknowing to her, it wasn't an escape from the abuse she has so endured her whole life, but a continued journey of it.

Over the years, Larry Dyar resorted to the same path that his father had taken and chose the path of alcohol addiction to cope with his pain and suffering. The intoxicating effects of the alcohol turned Larry Dyar into an abusive individual which he took out on his wife. As the abuse continued for years to come, Glennie Dyar resorted to her own escape from reality by using the drug crystal meth. Ms. Dyar used the drug crytal meth to block out her painful memories of her childhood and the ever haunting nightmares of the traumatic memories of her youth. The drug also helped her become numb to the everyday physical, spiritual, and verbal abuse that she suffered by the hands of a man who had promised to love and cherish her because his addiction sometimes took a hold of the person he was and made him into a man that his addiction formed.

Glennie and Larry's addictions led to many downfalls in their lifetime. These included poverty, poor education, low-paying jobs, and committing illegal activities in order to maintain their drug habits. As Larry and Glennie Dyar had children, than those individuals as well were brought into their spiraling world of devastation and chaos. The children got the abuse that came from the drug and alcohol addiction as well as raising themselves as their parents lay behind bars in a county jail cell. Of course there is no happy ending to this story as you would think. It would be nice to say that the family overcome and struggled through their problems and in the end found some type of happiness. The real ending is that the father, Larry, carried on his addiction till it finally took his life and the mother, Glennie, has spent a large percentage of her life in jail from where the addictions she had suffered from consumed her.

Glennie's addiction did not only affect her but the outcome of how her children turned out and the addictions that they would form. Glennie's kids were supportive of her up and than Glennie met an individual whom ended up trying to kill Glennie and her three kids due to the addictions he had and the monster that it made. The man was on several different drugs from alcohol to cocaine and ended up trying to kill Glennie and when her kids tried to help, than that is when Glennie and all three of her kids were stabbed and left to die. Till this day, these events will forever have changed Glennie and the life of her family. Glennie's two sons became addicted to drugs and alcohol to cope with their life as their parents had done before them. The never-ending cycle of the horrible and consuming addiction carried on. As the younger son, Chris Dyar, was forever molded into a new individual from the spiraling events around him. He had to step up and face his fears that night he had to watch a man try to take the lives of the people he loved. A family can be tested over the years and the events they face can bring them together and bind them or forever separate them. Addictions can mold the lives of the people that it takes into it and it can destroy everything that person loves. The kids who lose a father but forever have the good memories and the bad ones. The addiction that took one life can also give life. I feel the stories of the people who pass from this earth continue on to inspire and motivate those of the living.

The woman, Glennie Dyar, who feels she has lost everything in her lifetime can be given a new appreciation for life if she so chooses to see it. As people we are molded from our experiences and what we learn from them. We can choose to be strong and fight against the world as everyone has to do to survive. Or we can let the world destroy us and take away the dreams we so have for ourselves. When each person in this life is given the miracle of birth than from that day they are given one gift to guide them the rest of the way, that gift is the power of choice. The young son who was forever scarred by the experiences he had to endure has the choice to face the world with a new and powerful outlook. He has faced many obstacles that many individuals may never have to face and he was given many talents in his life. So now he has the opportunity to use his life experiences to make him stronger and give him the willpower to conquer his dreams. He had faced his fears already so now the question is, "What else is there to fear?" Success is his choice for the taking.

The woman, Glennie, is given the opportunity to be happy if she so chooses it or she has the choice to continue to give in to the addictions till it eventually destroys her like it has many people before her. She has the chance to start anew and be a better grandmother than she may have at points been a mother due to addiction, she can use her experiences to help other women like her and make a difference in their lives based on what she had the strength to overcome, and the power of choice gives her the world if she so takes the time to want it. The stories and experiences I have had the chance to add to my life have made me the person I am today. I don't regret any choices I have ever made and the strength that I have today came from watching the strength of the people I loved around me. Sometimes other people can not see the greatness that they have inside them as much as another person looking in can. I watched my mother endure terrible things in my lifetime and she struggled on even though she didn't want to. I have saw my brothers cope with overwhelming pain and sadness that made them want to stop living, but it gave me the light to enjoy my life even more to see that they have the strength to continue on even when most wouldn't have.

I hope one day my family realizes the greatness within them and the strength that they have to do anything. One day they will make the choice to live life and be happy and use everything they have gained to their advantage to take a hold of their life. Or they can choose to let addiction take a hold of them and give up everything they have so fought for. I saw that the cycle of drugs and alcohol addiction was not the life that I wanted my kids to live and I hope the cycle of addiction in my family can finally change. That is how the story of individuals with drug addictions ends and how it may not be a happy ending all the time, thus; it is the true depiction of a person dealing with an addiction.