Recently, a man arrived at a local school 45 minutes late to pick up his grandson who has just started kindergarten. It was immediately obvious from his reek that he was drunker than hell. He rightfully ended up getting a DWI. The child was eventually taken home safely by somebody sober.
The child in question is my brother’s son, and the man is the father of the boy’s mother (my brother’s ex-wife). She is his ex because, shortly after my brother returned from Afghanistan, he discovered that the skank had been cheating on him.
So not only did this poor kid have to deal with his parents divorcing, he also has to deal with the stress of starting school for the very first time while finding out that his maternal grandfather is a drunk loser. Add to that a couple other stresses that kids really shouldn’t have to deal with - losing an honorary “uncle” to cancer recently, and being house-less due to some snafu with a VA loan that I don’t begin to understand. (They have a place to stay, for now. Long term? No clue.)
In five years, this kid has already gone through more than I have in 27. The last thing he needed, on top of everything else, was that stupid bastard not giving enough of a shit about him to pick him up on time and sober.