Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Same Old Conversation

 
 
I'm driving back from the shop with Leo where we had to get gas for the chainsaw and the ATV.  Leo picked up a 40 ouncer of rum and a few bottles of coke.

Me (M) I know it's your birthday tomorrow, but you're going to be so sick after drinking that 40 pounder of rum.

Leo (L) *giggle* yeah, I know.

M: So that means you won't be able to work for a couple of days.

L: Yeah. *Laugh*. I'll have a grand old time.

M: You'll have about 10 minutes of a good time, then about 48 hours of a really bad time.

L: Ah, who cares?

M: Well I do, because there's still wood to be sawed and put in the barn and you won't be around for a couple of days to fill the bin in the house.

L: I wish you drank with me.

M: No. You really wouldn't want to see that wish fulfilled, buddy. That bottle would end up in a right old battle between the two of us. I'd have to buy another two or three, or four hundred.

L: *excited* We could party for a week!!

M: Well, party wouldn't be the word I'd use. Alcoholic poisoning and wet brain comes in there somewhere!

L: Ah, it's a shame you had to stop!

M: No, buddy.  Everyone around me needed me to stop. And believe you me you wouldn't want to see me start!

19 comments:

  1. No, I would not want you to start nor would I want to start again. I would not like to see a whole lot of others to start too.

    I am sad that such a fine man has to drink a whole bottle of rum to celebrate his birthday!

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  2. I never started, i seen the effects and consequences way to close up with my Mother and other Family members...sad indeed. I hope you get your wood sorted out .

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  3. I went into a drugstore a while back. As I walked through the store, I saw the rows of non-prescription drugs for sale to people over 21. Rows and rows and rows and rows of bright, shiny bottles.
    I mentioned my observation to an acquaintance later, when I met him at the pub over a drink.

    ME: Do you know why liquor stores have thousands of bottles of stuff no self-respecting drunk would ever drink?
    HE: Why?
    ME: Because people buy it. The statistics are wrong. Nobody makes a product just for fun.
    HE: Whaddaya mean?
    ME: Look at those flavored cordials - everything from licorice to cherries; they all have one thing in common.
    HE: What's that?
    ME: No matter the proof, they're 99 percent percent alcohol.
    HE: How about those bottles of single malt Scotch?
    ME: You mean the ones that sells for $45 a litre? Ninety nine percent alcohol. Remember the first time you took a drink?
    HE: I'll never forget it.
    ME: How's that?
    HE: It made me choke. I thought my throat would close up. And it tasted like hell.
    ME: What happened then?
    HE" I drank some more.
    ME: Why, if it tastedc so bad?
    HE: I was just 15. I was at a party. Everybody else was getting high.
    ME: What happened later?
    HE: My friend's father - the party was in my friend's father's basement - found my passed out on the front lawn about 3 a.m.
    ME: Did you enjoy the party?
    HE: Yeh. I had a great time.

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  4. No you don't want to have a drink and we your friends don't want you to either.

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  5. Ramana:

    Us never knowing when to stop types are so happy we don't drink anymore, there is no such thing as social drinking in our books!! Unsocial drinking more like.

    It upsets me very much to see Leo drink like this, his family of origin all drink in this way too. It is tragic. Especially with his mental challenges.

    XO
    WWW

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  6. CC12:
    Interesting that. I come from a house where my father was a lifelong teetotaller and my mother had a sherry at Christmas.
    Many of their children have waltzed with the demon.
    XO
    WWW

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  7. Marc:

    That was all I could remember for years, was that little narrow window of "good time" and eliminate all the hours of hangover and remorse.

    Those pretty bottles are deadly, I see many of my nieces going sideways on these little harmless delights.

    XO
    WWW

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  8. GM:

    Thanks for that well expressed wish. I'll add mine too!

    XO
    WWW

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  9. Good that we differentiate what's best for us and what can be self-destructive, including not just alcohol. The challenge can come in doing what is in our best interest. We sometimes don't realize, or disregard, that we may be harming not just ourselves, but our actions have significant effects on those who care about us.

    Glad you're able to reject what you know is an issue for you, and am sorry someone you care about does not. AA, ACA, NA and other such groups help so many.

    There are a surprising number of older adults who "self-medicate" with alcohol. I've provided speech/language/cognitive therapy to some whose recovery from stroke, for example, is severely restricted as a consequence of their brain function deteriorating toward dementia. They often have permanent memory deficits precluding their ability to retain the information needed to adjust or overcome their new limitations.

    The fear of what could be should motivate us all to care about ourselves, but often isn't enough.

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  10. Joared:
    Suffice to say I'm simply staggered by the level of drinking among the elderly I see here.

    I must do a post on the number of beer and liquor trucks I see coming down our little peninsula.

    Yes, dementia is enables by this excess. (and the denial has to be heard to be believed too!)

    XO
    WWW

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  11. Well, I remember you saying that he is a bit simple minded and he may not understand the consequences of alcohol in your particular case or even quite clearly in his own case. If he is like a child, he thinks he is having a good time. It makes you wonder about alcohol and drugs in general in the hands of people who have a problem with it and so many do. Our culture still permits it.

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  12. Demon rum eh. Had a friend once who had a 180 change in his personality when he got into the rum.
    He died young.

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  13. I hope Leo survives his birthday with no permanent ill effects. If he reserves his binges for once a year on his b'day he might manage to avoid the DTs etc.

    Good girl, WWW for doing the "Get thee behind me" bit. Well done!

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  14. My mother took up heavy drinking in old age. It was self medication. We had no relationship after that, because she became so aggressive. This was a disaster, because I could not do anything for her, and her last years were a catastrophe.
    We have a good friend who has not had a drink for almost 30 years. He took a lot of drugs, LSD, etc. What he says is, "I don't know why I did it. It wasn't any fun."
    It's such a pity to see good and useful people succumb. I hope you can help your friend get on the right path, but I know how it is.

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  15. Irene:
    His family of origin have a problem with booze and tend to encourage him :( (free booze for them!)
    I spoke to a group of mentally challenged drug and alcohol addicted people one time and it haunts me still. The comprehension of what they were doing to themselves was there as was the desire to quit.
    XO
    WWW

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  16. GFB:

    I've lost many to the demon. Some by their own hands. Some in wet brain dementia.

    It's not easy for either the victim or the people who love them.

    XO
    WWW

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  17. T:
    I'm more overwhelmed with gratitude than anything else :)

    So few make it, it has a throat throttling grip but there is a way out...

    Leo is limited by his pocket and I keep a little savings account (outside of his wages from me) for the extra work he does so he has it in an emergency.

    XO
    WWW

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  18. Hattie:

    How awful for you and your mother. I went through much the same with a beloved aunt, whom I've written about.

    It is one of the worst deaths imaginable.

    He does it so infrequently it's a blessing. A form of madness seizes him, he goes from 0 to drunk in about 15 minutes. As does his sisters. As does his brothers.

    XO
    WWW

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  19. I guess you can't be Irish without having up close and personal experience of the evils of the "dhrink!"

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