Woman goes to a bar and, later, behind bars. The kids, ages 6 and 10, were alone at home.
Story from “This is True” by Randy Cassingham, with his “tagline:”
“Gimme My Keys: Jennifer Grooms, 29, called police from a Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., restaurant. She complained that parking valets refused to give her car keys to her because they thought she was drunk. The responding officers agreed with the valets, but Grooms insisted she was OK to drive. She refused offers of a taxi or calling friends, and allegedly told the officer he was obligated to drive her home because she had left her two children there alone. Despite warnings, Grooms allegedly got into her car, daring the officers to arrest her, which they did. Once they got Grooms to the station, someone was dispatched to her apartment, where they found Grooms’ children, ages 6 and 10, who were alone while she was out drinking. She was charged with disorderly intoxication, resisting arrest without violence, escape, and two counts of child neglect. She was released the next morning, and unable to be reached for comment. (MS/South Florida Sun-Sentinel) …Have you checked the bar?”
Ordinary people might think Ms. Grooms would learn her lesson after such a harrowing experience. However, practicing alcoholics don’t learn in the same way or nearly as quickly as the rest of us. Due to damage to the frontal lobes of the brain they cannot link the “cause” of heavy drinking with the “effect” of bad behaviors, or even that the behaviors were awful. They don’t “learn” from past mistakes, but instead must suffer consequences so severe they are driven to consider “trying” sobriety. Often, they must be coerced into abstinence, making sobriety possible. Grooms may well have gone back to the bar—which, unfortunately, isn’t a joke.
(Story and tagline from “This is True,” copyright 2014 by Randy Cassingham, used with permission. If you haven’t already subscribed to his newsletter—the free one at least, or the paid one I get, with more than twice the stories—I highly recommend it: www.ThisIsTrue.com.)