My Selfish Friend - Alcohol!

It comes in so innocently; offering you a little sip when it's not "legal", showing up at parties with friends.You say "Everyone does it".

Your parents drink.Your dad has a little wine every morning.This selfish friend has made him believe that it helped him get his day off to a good start.You don't remember your dad drinking heavily but you remember the arguing. He spent too much time at the bar after work. Actually, you always loved going to the bar with him! His friends would buy you candy bars and soda.You never thought that the arguing was about the drinking, it was about the bar. But then most nights, he would fall asleep on the couch even before our bedtime.You thought it was because he worked hard.

So sipping a little wine when you were young wasn't bad. And when you turned 18 (the legal age then), your mom gave you a twisted bottle. She laughed when she said that would be the way you would look the next morning! A little twisted! Alcohol makes you sick...and that's funny. Right?

Well, everyone does it! So the selfish friend is welcomed into your life.

It's starts out, so innocently.You want to be social.You want to be part of the group. So you have a drink, maybe two on the weekend.You think that it makes you less shy, more funny.You like being part of the gang.So you have a couple more.

The next morning, your head hurts something fierce, but you smile. Everyone smiles! "What's the matter? Have a little too much to drink last night?" It's funny. Now you're really part of the gang. Seems this has happened to them too.

The occasional weekend event increases to a few nights during the week. It's great going out with your friends. Sometimes your friends can't go out but you go anyway. There's plenty of people at the bar and with a drink or two, you know you'll get to know them too. The more the merrier.

What the heck, even if no one is there, the drink will keep you company!

You don't remember exactly when it happened or how it happened but soon you drink every day.You don't need to go to the bar anymore because you're best friend now lives with you. And when you do venture out, it seems that all those other people are just idiots.They don't understand you anymore.

You don't care!

Instead, you and your best friend spend hours together every night.You're thankful for this friendship.You say, "It helps me sleep."

The alarm goes off in the morning but you don't hear it. You're late for work but how can that be your fault? Your boss writes you up anyway which just makes you angry! I mean really, it wasn't your fault!

That night, you are still angry until your friend, Alcohol, calms you down.

You sleep through yet another alarm and your boss fires you for no good reason! How can it be your fault that the stupid alarm isn't loud enough to wake you up? Whatever! This job was no good anyway. You are sure that you will find someone else who will truly appreciate your skills, so you celebrate with your friend! It was just a stupid job. You're glad to be free of it. Let's have another drink.

Nobody else wants to celebrate with you. Stupid people! They call themselves friends? It doesn't matter. You'll find other friends; people who will really appreciate your quick wit and intelligence.

In the meantime, you have everything you need right here in this drink.

You find another job and then another and another. Each one disappears for various reasons. It's not your fault, though. It's just that people are all idiots.

But the bills are piling up and there's no money coming in.Your faithful friend, Alcohol, helps you sleep.It's only when you're sleeping that you are not so afraid.

You lose your home, ignore the bills (you can't pay them anyway). A person here and there offers to give you a place to stay and that works...for awhile, but soon they tell you that you have to find something else.You don't know what the problem is but whatever! Sleeping in your car is not that bad.

And you always find a way to have your friend, Alcohol, there with you. It helps you sleep and sleeping is when you're not afraid.

What happened? You fell that's all! All you wanted was for someone to help you up!Instead they call 911. Seems you broke your hip. So you're in a hospital and then a rehabilitation center. Looks like a nursing home to you! They say that you have some kind of cancer too but they don't tell you much. Stupid people.

Your sisters come to visit and that's ok.They bring you movies to watch but you say that you've seen them all. They ask how you like the food. You say "It sucks". And then you say, "I've been meaning to ask you for one thing. I was just wondering if you could bring me a beer."

My dad struggled with health issues his whole adult life. He was told not to drink or smoke because of a poor heart. He claimed drinking was the only joy he had. He died at the age of 46.

My youngest brother became a victim of alcohol early on. It robbed him of a normal life. A marriage, friendships and job after job disappeared. He was left broken and homeless. His ability to think, process information, or navigate his life left him long before cancer took over. He passed away on March 25, 2013 living to be 60 years old.

Another brother should have died from a massive heart attack about that same age but instead was spared, living another ten years. His lifetime of drinking, though, had cost him his marriage and weakened the blood flow through his body. In the end, he was sober but unable to walk any distance and was afraid to leave his house for fear he might fall. He died November 16, 2019.