I positively grinned when I read how the liquor store associate reacted to your request and was excited about their NA range. It was a left turn of the pleasant variety!
I really like wine, like really really. But alas, that mistress is no longer for me. So the dealcoholized wines are ingesting, but to me it's not the same taste.
That notwithstanding, they are closer to the meal accompaniment I'd like; different than water and not that damn sugar water that makes you burp (soda pop).
Sometimes I wait for the twinge of more, tho. Like you, it serves as a reminder to stay in immediate awareness of what I'm consuming, and not go back to mindless guzzling. Vigilance is a good thing.
I’ve never had trouble being “around” alcohol or passing by the liquor section in the grocery store. Every time I drank destructively it felt like a demon took over and drove me to buy the alcohol like I was on a mission from Satans’s A team. Without that weird pre decision to drink too much I just don’t get the craving. Brains are weird.
It’s made sobriety more difficult in some cases because I get the feeling coming over me that is more like a random urge from out of nowhere, not spurred on by the sight, smell, or sound of drinking but from some deep, dark basement whose doors have suddenly blown off the hinges and revealed a snarling, spiked collared beast lumbering up the cellar stairs.
I find that being sober is more accepted by young people these days. I’m old so I can use the tried-and-true medication excuse but increasingly an excuse isn’t needed.
The New Yorker had a story by John Seabrook a while back - he explored NA wine and got a real Riesling by mistake and didn't know until he'd had a glass. The label was in German. He said, "I didn't relapse. I took my lumps and started over." Phew.
I positively grinned when I read how the liquor store associate reacted to your request and was excited about their NA range. It was a left turn of the pleasant variety!
ngl, i almost got teary when it happened. it was just so nice
I'm so happy there are more N/A options these days, including dealcoholized wine. I wish more restaurants and bars would offer them!
UGH a million percent!
Always great to read your stuff.
I really like wine, like really really. But alas, that mistress is no longer for me. So the dealcoholized wines are ingesting, but to me it's not the same taste.
That notwithstanding, they are closer to the meal accompaniment I'd like; different than water and not that damn sugar water that makes you burp (soda pop).
Sometimes I wait for the twinge of more, tho. Like you, it serves as a reminder to stay in immediate awareness of what I'm consuming, and not go back to mindless guzzling. Vigilance is a good thing.
A very good thing
I’ve never had trouble being “around” alcohol or passing by the liquor section in the grocery store. Every time I drank destructively it felt like a demon took over and drove me to buy the alcohol like I was on a mission from Satans’s A team. Without that weird pre decision to drink too much I just don’t get the craving. Brains are weird.
It’s made sobriety more difficult in some cases because I get the feeling coming over me that is more like a random urge from out of nowhere, not spurred on by the sight, smell, or sound of drinking but from some deep, dark basement whose doors have suddenly blown off the hinges and revealed a snarling, spiked collared beast lumbering up the cellar stairs.
I find that being sober is more accepted by young people these days. I’m old so I can use the tried-and-true medication excuse but increasingly an excuse isn’t needed.
The New Yorker had a story by John Seabrook a while back - he explored NA wine and got a real Riesling by mistake and didn't know until he'd had a glass. The label was in German. He said, "I didn't relapse. I took my lumps and started over." Phew.
Oof that would be so unnerving!