Well, you can teach an old dog new tricks! I’m back in writing mode with a new keyboard that connects to my iPad...Yay! I don’t have to go nuts trying to write anymore nor do I need to purchase a new MacBook Air... so life is definitely on the upswing.
It hasn’t always been that way. On the outside I appeared to have it all -- home, career, vacations to wonderful places, money, cars... well, you get the picture -- while inside I was totally not living life. Because I drank. A lot! With my Scotch Irish heritage, I was always one of those people who could “hold” my alcohol. As if that’s something admirable. NOT! What I now know is that it was complete and utter bullshit.
I realized this past holiday season how checked out of life I had been for the most part of four decades. One of my friends in Put It Down Lifestyle's Boozeless Bunch (yes, a great name that you can sing and make up words to the Brady Bunch theme song) mentioned how funny the movie “Christmas Vacation” was this year. Well, I made a point of watching it the next time it aired, and voila!!!! Hilarity personified!! Chevy Chase at his all-time best.
What I didn’t tell you is that I’ve seen this movie at least 20 times and got tired of it years ago. I didn’t think it was that funny. Why is it so humorous and entertaining now? Because I watched it...I was able to pay attention to it. I “GOT” it. And all the humor that went along the way of the entire movie.
First time EVER I had watched this movie without alcohol in my system. Wow, what a difference! I remember sneaking alcohol into the theater when this movie first aired. Why? Because it would make it even funnier. Nope. Nope. And a big NO. I may have laughed at the first few funny scenes and lines...pretty soon, I would be more interested in “pouring” than watching.
So, ladies, I challenge you to pick a movie to watch...any movie...that you saw while you were drinking and thought... well, meh, just wasn’t as good as you thought it would be. Seems like that statement was pervasive in just about everything I did. You see, my brain was always distracted by a simple question that played over and over and over and... well, you get it, “When can I have another drink?”
As Susan Christina Creamer in the wonderful world of Hola Sober says, “Not today, lady. Not today.”
*Clark Griswold (played by Chevy Chase) in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
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