One for the Road

I want to drink alcohol, but alcohol doesn’t like me. The slightest hint of liquor in my food or drink and my face and body become blotched with red spots, and I really think my ears start to twitch by themselves. So, I don’t drink. I can’t. It is very inconvenient for me to do so.

I discovered this inconvenience when I went to Canada, where legal drinking age was (and still is) 18. We would hit the bars and my friends would have their 12 oz beer for a quarter and I would have my 8 oz coke for fifty cents. How unfair was that? And yet, I would be the most “drunk”, not with alcohol but with the moment. We hit the bar for companionship and fellowship. I soaked myself in them, and like a sponge, absorbed the joy of friendship and camaraderie. I would of course usually be the loudest, and people who did not know thought I had one drink too many. I really didn’t mind.

At CFA, we would do “one for the roads” after work, mostly on Fridays, to unwind. You see, telling stories out of nowhere could be quite be draining! My friends would all drink their beers and wine, and I was still stuck with my coke. But I would be the loud one, okay, maybe second to Ernie who got really drunk, but I was next -- with zero alcohol in my system.

But I so want to be able to drink. I love the idea of romance that goes with drinking – wine by the crackling fire on a cold winter’s night. The trouble is, I don’t get to do the wine part, I just go straight to the cheese and crackers part – which results in bulges—and I got plenty.

Of course, these days, we have the ever popular HAPPY HOUR, cheap drinks and cheap hours devours, and I still can’t drink. But I guess that’s okay. The original idea of “one for the road” is to make the moment last a little bit longer. One for the road is to have a wee bit more time with friends we love or miss or care for, before they have to leave us, until who knows when? So we savor the moment and make it last.

I don’t need to have alcohol for that. Good old bottled water will do just fine.

Cheers!