It’s Five O’clock Somewhere

When my stepson was a junior in high school, his parents put him in an adolescent treatment facility for drugs and alcohol abuse. I attended all the family sessions and did not drink before visiting him. My students were great coaches as most were graduates of this place. I stayed sober until our wedding anniversary when I had a glass of wine with dinner. From that day in April until Ash Wednesday in the following March, I tried to manage and control my drinking. I learned that if I picked up that first drink, I did not want to stop. I could have continued on drinking with my first husband who succumbed to cirrhosis of the liver a few years ago. I’m sure my life would have been noisy and chaotic with a few quiet moments. We lived four blocks from the ocean and I rarely ventured out when hungover. Before work I always took a couple of aspirin with my coffee. It was more of an existence than a life when I was on that path.

— KathyV