As a child I remember hearing the story of when my Grandma, who was known as the best wine maker on the "harvesting" tour, decided to quit making wine when one of her kids got into the wine cellar.
"Why are my feet so far away from the floor?" they asked. In part I would say this resulted in the whole family , including my Dad being abstainers. Mom didn't drink either so this meant I grew up in a home where alcohol was never a part. Well except for the "rum" balls at Christmas and the occasional "orange brandy" cake....have to say I would love to sample either of those again! Hint, hint - Mom ;) As a young adult I too felt led to be a complete abstainer as Sarah Bessey eventually decides in her blog article http://sarahbessey.com/quit-drinking/ that "inspired" me to convert my rather lengthy facebook post into a blog entry on my long forgotten blog.
Who knew that my future husband would be an abstainer as well - after seeing the damages of alcoholism in his family. I will admit it took awhile for me to be comfortable around others who were drinking even a glass of wine with their meal. It no longer bothers me. I will say it makes it "more" comfortable for me to have those I'm with who are drinking to just accept and respect my abstinence and to not worry about whether I'm having a good time or not. I will admit that thinking about attending my school reunions has always made me a bit nervous but have to say I have amazing highschool friends who just accept me and my husband in our "non-drinker" status. And I've always stayed to the end and had a great time. ((Hugs)) to you all! In some ways I feel more of an acceptance of my abstinence there than I do in church circles - strange I know.
l thought Sarah's blog article was worth passing on. Our journeys were different but ended the same. We all have unique journeys with alcohol. I just hope yours isn't one that's leading you on a possible destructive path. As my Dad (aka Wally) has always said "it is a slippery slope" I hope your slope is in the right direction. For those of you that it is you never know, you might be the fortunate recipient of a "regifting" from our ever growing wine cellar one day...ha...ha! Don't know why people can't think about giving dark chocolate as a gift instead of the customary bottle of wine....lol! Or if you ever feel led to one day give it up completely for one reason or another please know you are not alone. I agree with Sarah Bessy - there are a wide variety of teas out there or maybe I can help to introduce you to my latest personal bubbly favourite....homemade kombucha!
