Dreaded Event

Well, I geared up for the worst and it turned out okay after all. This weekend was my sister's bridal shower. She always wanted a coed shower her best friend and my fellow bridesmaid (despite my objections, but that's another story) arranged what essentially was a keg party with over a hundred invited. Plus, it was scheduled to be an 8 hour event (longer than the wedding).

I prepared myself all week with how I was going to get through it without drinking. I made sure there were tons of soft drinks, focused on taking pictures and hanging out with non-drinkers. I also sought and received a lot of support from my online recovery group. And of course I took the Antabuse.

The party lasted a long time and there were a LOT of people there. But the drunkfest I dreaded never really happened. Yes, a lot of beer was drank but over the course of a long afternoon and evening. But there were only three real drunks, everyone else was pretty mellow. We went through a LOT of soft drinks--I had made sure we had boatloads and people seemed to choose those quite often, in the end there was none left.

On the whole, it was a successful event, although not one I want to repeat. My sister and her fiancee were surprised and delighted. I've proved to myself that you can dance and also sing karaoke (um, yeah, I did, but not well) and have fun conversations with out drinking. I caught up with a bunch of cousins I haven't seen since my own wedding years ago. It was unexpectedly fun, although I could have done with a much shorter day.

My 18 year old nephew commented jokingly to me "Auntie, I guess Uncle is going to be the family drunkard now." While he was teasing me, there was a recognizable grain of truth in the comment, although my brother won't be replacing me; he was just a bit of a dancing fool last night. And I did have a more indepth conversation with my sister and brother about my reasons for not drinking anymore.

Did I crave alcohol at any point? I would be a liar if I said that a cold beer on a hot afternoon did not call to me or that a glass of wine crossed my mind. But I put it out of my mind and went and talked to people. I notice I am a way better listener without drinking too. I can focus on the conversation.

Sober, I was able to help my sister with the ridiculous amount of presents she received (!!!) (she was pretty taken aback). I drove home safely. I woke up early with no hangover. I went to the beach for a few hours with my kids and their cousins, then we caught about half of the baseball game we were planning to attend. Came home, took a dip in the pool and enjoyed my garden. Cooked a spaghetti dinner.

And you know what??? Life is good.