happy hour becomes contemplative
My better half over-did it at a Tuesday night welcome back party last month. The following day, she felt like a mushy pile of shit, and decided that it was time to ride the sobriety wagon.
At first I was shocked. Who would self-impose such a strict punishment? Shouldn’t these decisions be best left to the courts? Besides, there have been plenty of other times that we’ve both overdone it even more than it was overdone on that Tuesday night.
During week one, I joined in for solidarity. I decided to impose some light, realistic restrictions on myself: no drinking on weeknights. Period. This is sort of like sacrificing candy, which I don’t like anyway, for lent. It wasn’t much of a sacrifice. I’ll happily drink every night of the week, given the chance. But most of my weeknight drinking amounts to a few glasses of wine with dinner or a couple of beers at happy hour or concert. Still, those occasions seem to occur in a nonstop consecutive fashion if you let them. My weekend, however, are sacred. Mommy needs her an Anchor Steam NOW BITCH!
By week two, I realized (watching my Hon suffer a bit) that my problem wasn’t the frequency of my drinking, but my sheer enjoyment of it all! I will never say “no” when offered beer or wine. And if there are six drinks offered, I’ll gladly accept each one. Hangovers love me! So I figured out that I should put a limit on the number of drinks consumed in one sitting. I (silently) decided a fair number is three drinks, which is just enough to get buzzed if you play your cards right. Anything after 3 drinks is asking for too much fun.
We are currently in week three of her self-imposed resolution. I’ve decreased my drinking significantly, even on weekends. I'm trying this 3-drink max bullshit on for size. Considering that I never made a public declaration (this post surely isn’t one), I’ve more than held to my end of the bargain by staying sober alongside her on all weeknights and even some weekend nights. We’ve watched A LOT of movies. I wish I could say that I’d gotten back into sewing and drawing, but that’s not the case. This has proved that socializing and drinking isn’t an excuse for lack of productivity.
I’m not sure if I’ll stick to my 3-drink max guideline in the future or not. Mostly because this vacation from drinking (note: quite the opposite from a drinking vacation) was something that came from her consciousness and not my own. But I’m along for the ride on this experiment and with some reflection, I am learning. I think this must be something that a lot of 30-somethings go through, based on the number of my friends who are currently or have previously lived through this very same experiment.
For the record, I am still abiding by my own resolution four months ago to kick the morning coffee habit. Coffee has become an occasional afternoon treat, something to relish and savor. Is there some kind of parallel here that I am supposed to draw? I just can’t put my finger on it.
BURP!
At first I was shocked. Who would self-impose such a strict punishment? Shouldn’t these decisions be best left to the courts? Besides, there have been plenty of other times that we’ve both overdone it even more than it was overdone on that Tuesday night.
During week one, I joined in for solidarity. I decided to impose some light, realistic restrictions on myself: no drinking on weeknights. Period. This is sort of like sacrificing candy, which I don’t like anyway, for lent. It wasn’t much of a sacrifice. I’ll happily drink every night of the week, given the chance. But most of my weeknight drinking amounts to a few glasses of wine with dinner or a couple of beers at happy hour or concert. Still, those occasions seem to occur in a nonstop consecutive fashion if you let them. My weekend, however, are sacred. Mommy needs her an Anchor Steam NOW BITCH!By week two, I realized (watching my Hon suffer a bit) that my problem wasn’t the frequency of my drinking, but my sheer enjoyment of it all! I will never say “no” when offered beer or wine. And if there are six drinks offered, I’ll gladly accept each one. Hangovers love me! So I figured out that I should put a limit on the number of drinks consumed in one sitting. I (silently) decided a fair number is three drinks, which is just enough to get buzzed if you play your cards right. Anything after 3 drinks is asking for too much fun.
We are currently in week three of her self-imposed resolution. I’ve decreased my drinking significantly, even on weekends. I'm trying this 3-drink max bullshit on for size. Considering that I never made a public declaration (this post surely isn’t one), I’ve more than held to my end of the bargain by staying sober alongside her on all weeknights and even some weekend nights. We’ve watched A LOT of movies. I wish I could say that I’d gotten back into sewing and drawing, but that’s not the case. This has proved that socializing and drinking isn’t an excuse for lack of productivity.
I’m not sure if I’ll stick to my 3-drink max guideline in the future or not. Mostly because this vacation from drinking (note: quite the opposite from a drinking vacation) was something that came from her consciousness and not my own. But I’m along for the ride on this experiment and with some reflection, I am learning. I think this must be something that a lot of 30-somethings go through, based on the number of my friends who are currently or have previously lived through this very same experiment.
For the record, I am still abiding by my own resolution four months ago to kick the morning coffee habit. Coffee has become an occasional afternoon treat, something to relish and savor. Is there some kind of parallel here that I am supposed to draw? I just can’t put my finger on it.
BURP!
posted by Freewendy @ 10:58 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home