My Father’s Ring

Memories shaped by intense emotion can be indelible. Grief may remain part of one’s being for a lifetime. Many young people suffering from an early loss never experience resolution through bereavement. Consequently, forgiveness is stunted. In this case history, the author describes a familial dysfunction with specific attention to his father’s alcoholism, subsequent recovery, and untimely death. The crux of this narrative account is the author’s protracted grief and eventual decision to stop drinking alcohol in order to forgive his father for the genetic propensity that threatened both of their lives. Timing was a critical ingredient in this process. Both subjects stopped drinking on Father’s Day of their 48th year. Providence was evident in the clustering of coincidences that directly influenced the author’s recovery and the resolution of his protracted grief through his recapitulation of his father’s sobriety. A family signet ring symbolizes this transformation and its historic motto, Pax cum potentia, Peace with power.