Drinking

Ah, that lovely glass of chilled chardonnay with dinner.  Or before.  Or after. Or with lunch. Or just because, for that matter.  Or, if you prefer red, how about a lovely Cabernet or Pinot Noir?  Or does your taste lean more towards a cocktail?  Maybe a perfectly shaken rosy pink Cosmopolitan or a top shelf Manhattan? I've indulged in all of these at one time or another.  Love all of them.  Problem is I love them too much.

My drinking began as a teenager growing up in New Jersey in the '60's.  Alcohol was the drug of choice for most at that time, with marijuana just coming into vogue, as was hallucinogenics. However, I wasn't interested in them.  I preferred the buzz of alcohol and so did most of my friends. The drinking in those days was limited to weekends.  Beer for the guys and mostly sweet wines for the girls.  Sometimes we sipped like ladies other times drank till we got sick and/or passed out. Most of this drinking took place at drive-in movies with our boyfriends or parties with our friends.

When we reached 18 (okay, maybe before for those of us with a fake ID) we would drive over the border to New York where the drinking age was 18 (N.J. was 21).  We would frequent the bars that were filled with young people of all ages and from many different towns.  The goal was the same - get hammered and have a fun night.  Sometimes (many times really) I wonder how is it that we didn't get killed in a drunken car accident driving home. We were foolish, reckless and plain dumb. Yes, at times, we would have a designated driver, but more often than not, we didn't.

As I matured, I developed a more refined taste for better wine and sophisticated cocktails.  I felt so grown up to order an alcoholic drink in a restaurant or bar.

From that time to the very recent past, I continued drinking, both at home and out on the town.  This is what everyone did.  Didn't they? The only times in my adult life I didn't drink at all was during my two pregnancies.

Now, I'm not saying I drank every night.  I did work most of those years and had to have my wits about me, however, for sure I imbibed every Friday, Saturday and often Sunday afternoons.

A few years ago I began to question my drinking.  I realized I'd gotten to the point where my drinking was more of a habit than a choice. Or was it an addiction? Sure, I could go a night or two without a glass of wine, but by the third day I was almost desperate for it.  Could I be addicted?

We'll pick this up in my next post.
xo