I’m just a half year from hitting 67, assuming I make that far. It never occurred to me that my profligacies would have consequences and that life would have the array of challenges it has today.
Two ex-wives and a current one who’s far more than the proverbial handful I should have learned and followed my Dad’s advice, “Stay single and tell your children to do the same.” But, of course, men so frequently think only with, well, it should a PG blog…
My wife is a California blonde, about ten years younger than I. If she doesn’t die of alcoholism, she’ll probably die of vanity. A hard core alcoholic (a binge drinker) who attends AA meetings several times a week and “goes out” (how I abhor euphemisms) probably a half dozen times a year is quite unhappy with her life: It didn’t turn out the way she wanted it to turn out. She’s not wealthy, nor is she an actress, though we all play roles, don’t we.
She is a hardcore alcoholic. Last Thursday she went to LA for a “Women’s AA Retreat” at a monstery in Malibu. She was to return today, however, this morning a received a call from a couple, close friends of hers, she was staying with after the retreat: She was quite drunk, to say the least, as she has a capacity that’s extraordinary. Three times in the past ten years the paramedics have taken her to the hospital (the last was six or seven years ago (though she’s “gone out” fairly regularly) where she registered 0.4 BAC — she would have died had she not received care.
“She’s completely incoherent, can barely stand,” they said. I told them to call 911. They are rather cultured folk, to say the least and had never seen anything like this before they said. Finally, I convince the husband to make the call…and she’s now in the hospital. When the doctor called me for a “history” he said “Do you hear that screaming in the background? That’s her, she’s hysterical.” She’s now been sedated. Oh, she does attend AA meetings four or five times a week…
How my days grow increasingly interesting.
