Alcohol Changes Things

Over the years I have been a spectator to the life style changes alcohol has on a person who consumes even a couple drinks. While some of these accounts may seem humorous, there is nothing funny about a person who is addicted to alcohol.

Grandma Had the Cure

My step-grandpa was truly a kind man. He was jovial and seemed to take life as it came, without any stress or fuss. However one night grandpa received a black eye due to being intoxicated. No he didn’t get in a brawl nor did he run into a door. Although he told all who asked him about his black eye that he did run into a door.

He was too embarrassed to disclose what really happened. What really happened was he came home intoxicated and started roughing up my grandma. Grandma being a stout German woman quickly belted him in the eye. Needless to say, after this incident Grandpa never came home drunk nor tried to rough Grandma up.

Saint to Sinner

In a church I once attended there was a middle aged man, who was a true gentleman. Taylor (not his real name) was quiet spoken, gentle, helpful, hardworking and generally just a nice person to be around. We all thought he was truly a saint.

One night Taylor staggered into mid-week Bible study drunk. He was disruptive and argumentative. When one of the ladies disagreed with a statement he made he stood up making threatening gestures to her face. He was quickly escorted out by two of the deacons. Our saint displayed part of the reasons God terms alcohol a sin.

Castles in the Air

Over the years I have known several individuals who when intoxicated have made some pretty unlikely dreams. One lady, who I had working under me, as a salesclerk, told me she and her husband traveled to Africa on a safari. When I asked her husband about it, he kind of laughed, “Only in her drunken dreams! We’ve not traveled more than five hundred miles from home.”

Another gentleman who use to come into the department store where I was employed told me he had received a contract to travel to Memphis, Tennessee, he was going to record a record of Country songs he had written. I was impressed and wished him luck. Several weeks later when I saw him in the store, I asked him how the recording went in Memphis.

He displayed total shock. Then said, “I never went to Memphis, I can’t sing and sure can’t play a guitar. “ And then he added, “I may have had a little too much to drink at the bar across the parking lot. “ He shook his head as he walked away.

Dressed to Shock

While employed at a retirement home, I was told about one of the residents who wandered from his apartment “bare-beam and buck naked”. When I questioned what had happened, as I knew this man to be extremely modest, I was told, “Oh, he came back from a New Year’s Party his family had, and I guess he had quite a bit to drink.” Then there was a laugh and someone cracked, “He was sure dressed to shock! Shocked all of us – we were speechless.”

I saw nothing funny about this incident knowing the social ramifications this could have upon this man. The man was so humiliated when he learned of his conduct he refused to leave his apartment for several weeks.

Who Moved that Light Post?

A story my dad has told a few times, shows how alcohol can alter a person’s visual perception. Dad was on his way to work one morning when he was delayed by a minor traffic accident. As he neared the scene, he saw a lady standing on the sidewalk swaying like a palm tree in the wind; her car smashed into the light post, and the police officer trying to get a report from her as to what happened. All she kept saying was, “Who was the jerk who moved that light post? It wasn’t there yesterday when I came this way to the store.”

The officer motioned for her to sit down in his patrol car; she tried to walk, but staggered on her high heeled shoes giving every impression of going to fall. The officer assisted her to his car. Certainly he drove her to the police station and held her there until she became sober.

Brutality of a Broomstick

Linda was a classmate of mine in home economics class my senior year of high school. Our sewing project could be whatever we wanted to make, that required some type of jacket. Linda had decided on a formal gown with a bolero jacket, she would wear to the prom. As I was her partner, we entered one of the dressing stalls for her to try her gown on to see how it fit. As she took her blouse off, I uttered a muffled gasp, “Linda, how did you get those welts? I asked noting a series of welts across her back.

“Oh, mom was drunk again last night. Dad wasn’t home. She got angry with me when I told her I was going to the prom with Dave and was making my dress as a school assignment. “ She explained her voice hushed.

“What did she hit you with?” I asked helping her with the zipper. “The broom handle. You know she doesn’t even remember beating me with it.” Linda confessed, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“You need to get away from your mom; can you go visit your grandparents or an aunt?” I suggested.

“No, but Dave and I plan to elope right after graduation, and move very far from my folks.”

Too Young To Die

As a student nurse, I was assigned to care for a patient who was diagnosed with cirrhosis. Mrs. Terrill was in her early forties. She had a wonderful husband, and three children ages, 14, 11 and 9.

Cirrhosis is an ugly condition, no textbook description can compare with actually seeing a person with this condition. Mrs. Terrill was extremely thin, she had no appetite, and her skin was a sickly yellow color known as jaundice. She experience almost constant nausea, and what little she did eat she would often vomit. Weakness kept her confined to bed as well as severe abdominal pain.

As part of my training I was permitted to view the x-rays of her liver. The image was graphic and memorable: A large portion of her liver was destroyed. I learned she had been consuming alcohol for many years with no ability or desire to control the amount.

My week of caring for Mrs. Terrill ended. At the end of the following week, I was told she had died. Forty is too young to die. Alcohol cheated her out of seeing her children grow up, graduate from school and maybe graduate from college and marry. It cheated her out of having a wonderful retirement with her husband.

Party Knight

At one employee’s Christmas party I watched as Wendy drank down three large glasses of a mixed drink someone told me was called a “screwdriver”. She then rather loudly, told her date, “I wanna dance.” So the young man with her, stood to escort her to the dance floor. She staggered, giggling uncontrollably, as she fell into him.

After several minutes of trying to steady her, he managed to turn her around to walk her back to her chair at the table where they had been seated. Pulling the chair out for her to sit in, he waited for her to sit down; she did smack on the floor. “Opps, kinda a funny chair, won’t even sit still.” she stuttered. Her date helped her up, facing her; he lifted her to his shoulders and headed for the door. Waving madly at all of us as she tried to look up from being flung over his shoulders, “Night-y Night my knight is carrying me away to his beautiful castle, “ she stammered

Wendy’s escort was a long-time family friend who agreed to accompany her to the party. He was not anyone she dated frequently and certainly there were no romantic inclination. But I do think she was right about one thing: He was a knight in the way he handled this disgusting situation.

These are some of the many reasons why consuming alcohol copiously translates out to changes. Sadly most of the changes are negatives. For anyone who drinks or is considering drinking, and for those who think they control their drinking they need to weigh out these changes consuming alcohol often creates:

•  Physical injury
•  Violating social norms (social sanctions)
•  Hurting family and friends emotionally and/or physically
•  Embarrassment and humiliation
•  Traffic accidents and citations
•  Death at an early age.

These are just a few of the changes, are they worth the drink?