Katrina was a good girl as a teenager. She grew up in an alcoholic home and was forced to be the adult in the house after her father walked out on the family on the day after Christmas when she was a young teen. That might be when taking care of others became part of her identity. She managed to mostly stay out of trouble as a teen, but when she turned 21 and could legally consume alcohol, things changed. Her drinking became a problem, and she eventually had to confront the idea that she was an alcoholic. 

She first realized her drinking was a problem when she was 22. That’s when she had an accident while camping that resulted in a catastrophic injury for an acquaintance and a short-lived sobriety for her. Maybe sobriety is too strong a word - it was more like a hiatus of several months until she felt like she'd learned her lesson and could drink more responsibly. 

Spoiler alert - she couldn’t. She continued to abuse alcohol and showed a lot of the classic signs of alcoholism. There were times when she put people she cared about in dangerous situations. There were times when it caused problems in her relationships. There were times she would try to hide it. It was clear she had a problem, but she didn't take action until her Mother-in-Law insisted on taking her out for the best burger she never had. 

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