A night with a girlfriend - and no filter required.......
(I promise - this photo was taken with my iphone when I returned home...... no filter.....)
I had my first visit with one of the women in my circle I would consider part of my "wine tribe". We met through our kids' sports, and because we were part of that famed group of middle aged moms who looked to any reason to drink, we stayed friends over the years. When we get together it more often than not includes wine. We hadn't really spoken during COVID and we decided last night would be a great time to go for a walk and then have a 'drink' on her deck. At that time I didn't mention I wasn't drinking at the moment, I thought I would wait and see how it unfolded at the time.
Our walk was great, and then back at her house she offered me the usual glass of wine, to which I politely declined. I fumbled with my words - "Um, I'm just not doing that right now", "Well, it's been a while..", "Well, actually only 3 weeks, but..." What the hell? Hahaha..... Turns out she didn't care, but also did not have a non-alcoholic drink to offer me. Interesting. It's funny, I was trying to plan ahead: "You should bring a tonic water or something". And then I thought no, just wing it. Well, I didn't even panic when there was nothing but water. Would you believe she had a soda stream sitting on the counter, but she only bought it for her husband for Father's day and doesn't know how to use it because she hates fizzy water. Oh. ok.
So yes, I thought to myself , hey I have one, I know how to use it. But then I thought, she probably doesn't know where the bottle is, and where the flavoring is and honestly, I just wanted to have a quick visit and get the fuck out of there hahaha!
So, warm tap water it was (no ice) with a lovely slice of lime. And it was glorious!
The funny thing was - she sipped on a glass of wine - I mean SIPPED! She is truly a normy. I had my glass of water down in 5 minutes and she nursed that whole glass of wine for an hour. An HOUR! If it was before 23 days ago, I would have taken teeny tiny sips trying to stay in line with her. And if I drank too fast I would have hated myself, PLUS, wondered when she was going to offer me another glass. It was exhausting enough analyzing all that while drinking my water, I can't believe how exhausting it would have been with wine swimming in my head on top of it.
And oh, by the way, I likely would have gone there with at least one glass of wine already put away after work, or at the very least a low carb vodka cooler. And of course, after getting one measly glass of wine at her house I would have come home and happily (and greedily) finished my bottle.
So instead, (I swear to God I did not miss that wine on her deck), I took in the lovely evening, the lovely surroundings, and I really, truly was engaged in our conversation because I didn't feel that drunk girl hanging around with all the other baggage.
And then I left after a reasonable visit, and was home with enough time to have a cup of tea and 300 graham crackers (that's my new vice right now *sigh*) and watch a show with my hubby before heading to bed and reading.
I've probably mentioned this before, but I am overflowing with gratitude.
If anyone is reading this and thinks it can't possibly happen them, you are not giving yourself enough credit. Head to my resource page and just start reading. Or listening - I actually found audiobooks - having these authors 'in my head' really helped.
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