Celebrating my anniversary!

[jadegil6]

Today I am celebrating my anniversary with a glass of cranberry juice. Ten years ago today, I drove to Oklahoma City after working all day to attend the funeral of my uncle. My wife and daughter went with me. Upon arrival in OKC, we got a motel room, and then I walked across the street to buy a 6-pack of Coors beer. I drank 2 of those before going to sleep, and the following day, brought the other 4 back to Austin, and put them in my fridge. But I never drank them. I just lost the desire to drink alcohol again. Eventually, I gave those beers to house guests. And now ten years have passed, and I have not taken one sip of any alcoholic drink, and still have no desire to do so. On many occasions I have been at tables where others have been drinking, but I always just had water or a juice. So now I am going to pour myself an ice-cold glass of sparkling cranberry juice, and hoist it high, and thank the Lord for giving me the willpower to "just say NO"!

[Smiley]

Congratulations Michael: I`m glad that you enjoy the resolve to make a life-changing decision and stay true to that decision for 10 years.I hope that the future brings you even more rewards.

[jadegil6]

Thank you Sir.

[Edwin]

Yes, Sir Michael, I along with Smiley congratulate you! I have the rare experience, maybe I am bragging, but I have never tasted alcohol in my life. When I was a very small boy I observed how the use of alcohol had destroyed many lives, many of them in our own family and relatives, as I think we have a weakness and tend to be drunks or alcoholics, as my Dad and my Uncle got into a huge fight when my Uncle was drunk over whether he was a drunk or an alcoholic. My Dad told him he was nothing but a drunk, but he insisted that he had a disease and it was called Alcoholism. This uncle swore off Alcohol for many years, and then he had a few years that he fell off the wagon, but then his last while he lived he was alcohol free. My younger brother died because of alcohol.

Another funny thing that is almost related to this subject is coffee. I took a physical education and health course from a university for my teaching certificate. The information had me convinced that coffee was not good for a person increasing the risk of heart disesase and cancer. I have not drunk any coffee since the early 1990s when I took that course. One day I just put down the coffee cup and never picked it up again. I was a very heavy coffee drinker, so it is probably good that I quit. The funny thing is that now they are saying coffee is good for you. It helps connect whatever it is in your brain that helps to to function mentally. They are now playing down the idea that drinking coffee increases your risk of heart disease and cancer. Well, some of my kids wishes that I were still drinking coffee when everyone else is drinking coffee, but I quit, I don't care about it anymore, so I drink water, juice, and milk!

[mystic]

Oh, happy adniversary!

[jadegil6]

Thank you Sir Edwin and Mystic. I relate to your experiences with coffee, Sir Edwin. I also stopped drinking coffee in the mid 90's, and have not drank any since. Every morning when I get up, I splash water in my face, and say to myself, "Now that's a good cup of coffee."

[Edwin]

That's really good, Sir Michael! I've not heard it put that way that water splashed in the face has the effects of a good cup of coffee, but it makes perfect sense. I think it is wonderful that you also stopped drinking coffee! They can sing the praises of coffee if they want, and other people can drink it if they want, but I still think that there are some good things going for not drinking coffee. Of course I don't think much of the soda pops, colas and pepsis either. This is interesting, Sir Michael, because I do the same with the cold water spash in my face just as you do. I have always tried to keep clean, but working in the sawmill they had a meeting in the lunch break shack, and told us that some of us were not smelling very nice, so we were asked to take a bath or shower every day. Of course the hard work we were doing, and working near steam driven headrigs made us sweat profusely. So now for many years I have been showering every day! When we retired and moved here, we had no running water, so it was not convinient to shower, and I was not mixing with other people on a regular basis, so the daily showers didn't happen. I went out to our travel trailer and showered with jugs of water until severely cold weather set in, and then I used a pan of water to take a glorified spit bath. It was actually a pretty effective cleanup, spilling a little water of course. Then we got our drain systems working, put in a shower stall, but still not running water. Then I put jugs of water in front of the wood pellet stove to heat them for showers, which worked fairly well. Then we got running water, with a little 8 gallon electric water heater under the kitchen sink. Then I drew hot water out of the tap, poured a little boiling water into it, mixing it, and that made a fairly nice shower, and I was happy every time I finished one. I don't shower really often anymore, but I always wash my face with cold water, shave, and I am ready for the day. If I am working in the valley, I don't shower and change my clothes, but if I am going to church, or going for pleasure, then I shower and put on clean clothes before I go. The way I shower now, is that I run the shower as hot as it is, and it is set at about 128 degrees F. I run water all over my body, turn the water off, soap up all over, then turn the water back on, rense off, and that is a very good shower. I keep moving so that I don't scald my skin. Using that method I use less water, shower more quickly and it is very effective. Now you know more about that than you wanted to know, huh?

[Smiley]

I don`t drink much pop anymore,I used to always have one in my hand,probably drank 6-8 a day.It is almost July and I think that I have had maybe 2 cans so far this year! Big difference,I am a lot leaner and a lot healthier.
I do drink alcohol but not like I used to! I enjoy a drink now and again but I am by no means a drunkard.I respect anybody's decision to live in a manner that is satisfying for them. I know a few people that would be a lot better off if they never had another drink.
I like to see people happy and at ease.For some this can be achieved better without certain enhancements.I spent many years in and around outlaw motorcycle clubs.I knew one guy who was in the big one who did a lot of work for AA and a couple other groups that dealt with substance abuse issues.A great guy who helped a lot of people and never asked a thing in return.Funny thing is ,he was a pretty hard party er but always was in control,he had seen people destroyed by their inner demons and hated that.

[Smiley]

I don`t drink much pop anymore,I used to always have one in my hand,probably drank 6-8 a day.It is almost July and I think that I have had maybe 2 cans so far this year! Big difference,I am a lot leaner and a lot healthier.
I do drink alcohol but not like I used to! I enjoy a drink now and again but I am by no means a drunkard.I respect anybody's decision to live in a manner that is satisfying for them. I know a few people that would be a lot better off if they never had another drink.
I like to see people happy and at ease.For some this can be achieved better without certain enhancements.I spent many years in and around outlaw motorcycle clubs.I knew one guy who was in the big one who did a lot of work for AA and a couple other groups that dealt with substance abuse issues.A great guy who helped a lot of people and never asked a thing in return.Funny thing is ,he was a pretty hard party er but always was in control,he had seen people destroyed by their inner demons and hated that.

[Smiley]

I don`t drink much pop anymore,I used to always have one in my hand,probably drank 6-8 a day.It is almost July and I think that I have had maybe 2 cans so far this year! Big difference,I am a lot leaner and a lot healthier.
I do drink alcohol but not like I used to! I enjoy a drink now and again but I am by no means a drunkard.I respect anybody's decision to live in a manner that is satisfying for them. I know a few people that would be a lot better off if they never had another drink.
I like to see people happy and at ease.For some this can be achieved better without certain enhancements.I spent many years in and around outlaw motorcycle clubs.I knew one guy who was in the big one who did a lot of work for AA and a couple other groups that dealt with substance abuse issues.A great guy who helped a lot of people and never asked a thing in return.Funny thing is ,he was a pretty hard party er but always was in control,he had seen people destroyed by their inner demons and hated that.