Thanks again, all of you! Dede, I am so looking forward to meeting you next month, and I hope you realize that your life experiences do help a lot of us on the forum to cope with our own. Jgnat - lost soul does describe Dad. Xena - no, he won't accept any help. Pettygrudger - yes, I do think the combo of drugs and alcohol is playing a large part in his personality change but there's nothing we can do to stop it. My therapist (not Big Tex - the one I pay money to) has told us there's nothing we can do if he doesn't want to stop it so we have to learn to cope with the situation without getting dragged down with him. Hence the boundaries.
I'm feeling better this morning, especially after reading all your kind words! This is a wonderful place to heal, to laugh, and to cry. Thank you, dear friends.
Nina