I just realized last night that for my husband to admit that he is an alcoholic and to quit drinking might actually kill him.
I know that sounds weird, but he has been drinking for 40 yrs. or more and his whole life has been built around alcohol.
All his friends are friends he meets at the bar and I call the Elks Lodge nothing more than a bar with a mission. His 5 marriages have all ended because he drank and mistreated his wives and couldn't deal with his own children.
If he gave up drinking this late in life, his social life as he knows it would come to an end, he would lose a big part of his identity, he would have to think and feel. He would have to develop new interests and different friends.

I was looking at his photo albums and in every picture he is holding a bottle of beer. Every picture!

When we go on vacation, he wants to drink and gets to know the bartenders. Then he criticizes me when I drink too much. What is his date supposed to do when they're with him? Sip Cokes?

He has developed his lifestyle of drinking into a fine art. He calls it having a few cocktails. His house is set up for an alcoholic. His shirts are all in order and he only wears shorts and polo shirts and tennis shoes. That way he doesn't have to think about what he is going to wear.

His dishes and meals are all the same, never change. He doesn't have to think about much of anything. I can't believe I didn't see the signs when I first met him. He hides it well.