Great insight and sharing going on. Thanks to all.
I pretty much stopped drinking often about 10 years ago. After that, it was maybe a few times a year I’d have a few. Typically at an event or get together. Other than that, I was having a beer every now and then, that was it. One was plenty.
In the past 5-6 years, it’s came to where maybe 2-3 times a year, if that, and one is more than enough. More times than not, I get 2/3 of it down and I’m content.
There’s a big family history with it, grandpa, both my aunts were bad (although socially functional), my mom some but not near as bad. When I was about 4, I was staying at my grandparent. At the time it was about a 3.5-4hr drive from where we lived. My grandma calls my mom one afternoon, grandpa was out cold on the couch, they better come get me.
That incident caused my mom and grandma to put the fear of God in grandpa. He quit cold turkey. FF almost 30 years and grandma passes away. This hurt my grandpa severely. Within 18 months he was off the wagon. He went though a phase where he’d drink himself sick over many months (roller coaster going down), end up in the hospital, they’d fix him (roller coaster going up), and he’d be good for a little while. Rinse, repeat, until 9 years later and they couldn’t fix him that time. A few weeks later, he passed.
My brother got bad for a while. Two DWI’s, didn’t phase him. Thankfully they were far enough apart the first one had dropped off. Both times were slaps on the wrist.
Then maybe 7-8 years ago he was coming home from work (at a bar/restaurant) late at night after closing up and hanging around after for some drinks. About 6 blocks from his house, he drops his smoke onto the floorboard, ends up going over the right side curb, plowed through the corner of someones fence, taking out about 30ft of fence and “totaling” his car. Cops show up, he blows a .13, and takes the ride.
He gets a good lawyer, and he was lucky he did. After dragging it out about 4 months, out of nowhere he gets a call: all charges dropped. Apparently during discovery or whatever phase, after a couple months, the city could not prove whatsoever that the breathalyzer was checked and properly calibrated. Not just that shift, but on-going for the previous few weeks. So the judge dropped it, since they didn’t take a backup blood test. If they knew the machine was having issues, why not take a backup just to be safe? Their loss.
However, to be fully honest, it was probably the better outcome for everyone. Yeah, my brother was one lucky mother fucker, and should have had some form of punishment. However, that one night scared him straight. He hasn’t had a drink since that night. In the long-term grand scheme of things, it’s better for everybody. Better for him, as he quit the sauce. Better for the community as he isn’t out there driving intoxicated. Had he ended up in the system, I don’t think the same result happens, and the next time might have been fatally worse.
So yeah, that stuff has weighed heavily into my consumption. As well it should. I didn’t want any part of shit like that. Thankfully I can keep it in check. I was able to walk back from that line and be alright.