I was sitting here with one of my pleasures in life. A nice cold bottle of Coke. It’s part of my morning ritual. I never drank coffee so a soda first thing in the morning has never been strange for me. One that I took for granted and abused by drinking 6-8 sodas a day.
A few months ago I changed things up and now I only have one each morning and the resulting weight loss is great. I’m pretty sure I’ll stick with this plan going forward. For a dozen years in my life when I had a problem with another bottle. One with a little more punch to it.
I was reminded again of this recently when someone I knew in my youth hit me up on FB on my birthday asking if I was still alive. Not the first time I’ve had that reaction. “Wow, you’re still alive” When someone from my youth sees me, has happened a few times.
I was a pretty hard drinker from about 14 to 26. I guess I drank like I had a death wish to some. Maybe I did. That was a pretty reckless period for a lot of things in my life. Yeah, I was a rum pirate. “The BAT” as we used to refer to it. Bacardi and Coke were the specialties of the day. Usually in the form of shots with a Coke chaser if any.
Those days were something. I’m so thankful I never hurt anyone physically during those days. Yes, I’ve driven when I shouldn’t have. I did hurt some people mentally with the problem. One of them was my own Mom. She was horrified that I was following in my Fathers’ late years and going down the same road.
And then there was my better half. She didn’t realize the issue I had with the bottle when we were married. And I have her to thank for helping me stop. But those few years I certainly didn’t earn any points in the marriage and I’m sorry I put her through that.
I stopped completely for a few decades. Didn’t touch a drop. Today I might take a sip of fine rum my friends drink now but that is it.
As I grew I talked about this with my son. I’ve always been worried that this might be hereditary and warned him of the dangers. Fortunately, he is much smarter than his father and hasn’t thankfully had any issues.
I’ve thought about speaking to youths about this issue and maybe I will in the future. I’m just thankful I was able to get it under control.
Random Thoughts of the Day
- Someone shooting off fireworks at 3 am this morning was a rude wake-up call.
- There are many shells in the sea. So the ones we are making a necklace for my granddaughter with won’t be missed.
- A relaxing 4th of July is ahead today. Good family, good food, good time.
- I must have a lot of backbone. Because it hurts often.
