I’m a middle-class, church-going, educated 36-year-old — a far cry from the hiccuping, red-nosed drunk pictured in old-timey Western films.
I don’t look like the type. Nevertheless,I come from a long line of boozers. My dad was an alcoholic who quit drinking when I was a baby. I have never been ashamed of my dad’s alcoholism because I recognized it not as a moral failure, but rather a genetic disorder that rendered him incapable of “switching off” his drinking once he started.My relationship with alcohol has always been complicated. Hooch was like a loser boyfriend I couldn’t dump.
It took me a while to admit I had the alcohol allergy because sometimes I’d succeed and drink in moderation, which lulled me into a false sense of security. But the truth was, I never knew who was showing up to the barstool. Would it be “One-Drink Crystal”? Or would it be everyone’s favorite trainwreck “Drink-the-Entire-Damn-Bottle Crystal”?
I won’t lie to you and say sobriety has been easy. Booze is everywhere in this day in age — it’s at football games, brunches — heck, it’s even at children’s birthday parties. And when you decline a hard drink people assume you’re either pregnant or holier than thou which is just freaking awkward, and let’s face it, makes you want to drink.
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