Imagine walking through a door into a largely empty room. Maybe it's a room under construction in a tall office building. Plywood floors, unpainted sheet rock, dangling wires, and high ceilings. In the middle of the room is the tallest commercially available stepladder. It rises to a height of 20 feet. Above the ladder is a hole in the ceiling, perfectly centered above the top step. Let's put the ceiling at 25 feet. Sixty inches above the top set of the ladder are two inviting-looking handles made of rebar. They are perfectly positioned inside the hole, which coincidentally looks just large enough for your body to slip through. You don't know exactly what's on the floor above, but whatever it is it's filled with fascination, adventure, and yet-to-be-discovered and untold riches. As an aside, and for the sake of clarity, let's agree that the average length of an outstretched two year old is also 60 inches, maxing out at 62 inches when up on their toes. As you ...
I nearly started drinking again this past weekend. It was almost by chance, and showed me how much socializing is tied to alcohol. Or rather, how it doesn't have to be. I'm two months into an experiment with sobriety . I'm quite lax about the whole thing. I'm not so much quitting alcohol as following my curiosity to know what a year without alcohol would be like. But I realized this past weekend, it's actually becoming quite important to me. Saturday was an absolute gorgeous coastal California day. Clear blue skies. 70 degrees. A respite from the generally cloudy and rainy winter season we've been having. It was the perfect day to get out. Take the kid to baseball practice. And...maybe...hang out with my wife and chance running into some other parents at the brewery nearby. My dilemma is this: I don't want to confine myself to the house and drop my social life because I'm not drinking. My social life is light as it is. Without alcohol, it's been ...
I'm 73 days sober when.... I sit at a table with powerful people. It is a privilege to be here and will undoubtedly be good for my business. We are celebrating. Bottles of wine are being opened. A *really* nice bottle is opened first. I don't know how much it costs, but somewhere above the buzz of vibrant conversation, the phrase "a thousand dollars" stands out. Glasses are poured, celebratory cheers offered all around. Before I know it, a glass is in my hand. My sister throws me a surprise party. Friends are there that I haven't seen in a long time. Colleagues I worked with years ago are here. Friendly, familiar faces of the long past. I don't know how my sister even knew to invite them. I'm guided to my seat at the table. An ice cold beer in a tall glass is poured for me. Everyone makes eye contact and smiles at me. I'm known for my love of beer. A good family friend has just passed. I attend her wake. It is all a fog. I hate funerals. I don't w...
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