Last night was the end of the school year, in the sense that the parents of my daughters’ classmates–at two different schools–each had a year-end party. It years gone by, I would have loaded up on alcohol at parties like these: Beer, mixed drinks, wine, it didn’t matter as long as it could help to feed my buzz. For 27 years of my life, I drank and drank and then drank some more. Never once did I consider myself an alcoholic, but I sure did love to drink. It would appear the obvious conclusion was the hardest one for me to make.
But last night, I had not one drop. I stared margaritas down, and emerged victorious in the end. I can’t get back all those years of pummeling my liver, but I can honor my realization that alcohol is not–and never was–a friend of mine. So I drank Diet Cokes all night, and ate a lot more than I should have, but I continued a nearly two-year run of life without booze. Life really is better, at least for me, without it.
Blue Batting Helmet 