The Big 4-0

First and foremost, let me say welcome back to all previous readers and hello to some new ones. I'll explain the long layoff from blogging in another post. For now, I'm focusing on my newest task and topic of this particular post: trying not to drink alcohol. I can hear jaws drop across the Internet and chuckles rumble from people who think I'm nuts for doing this. Truth is, I'm not sure I'll make it. But I plan to learn a lot about myself through this process. The reason for me abandoning the sweet, sweet taste of the spirits is spiritual...kinda. It all started when a co-worker of mine told me she was giving up sweets for Lent. I figured, why let her be the only person who suffers. So I decided to give up something...cursing. But my co-worker said that wouldn't be hard enough. So I (perhaps foolishly) said I'd give up the sauce. That was 4 days and several glasses of ginger ale ago (if you squint it kinda looks like I'm drinking booze). So far I'm doing ok, but I almost had a relapse (I sound like I just left the Betty Ford Clinic...lol). Something went down at the job and I got mad...and instantly, I wanted to have a drink. I hadn't thought about drinking hooch for a few days, but just like that *snap* I was thinking about when I would make time for an empty barstool and a glass full of Liquid Courage. I don't pretend to be a Biblical scholar so I'm not really sure what is supposed to be learned during this time, but today I learned something about me: I look to drink when I experience an intense emotional event. I know my liver wishes I'd discovered that a long time ago...