A Glass of Wine

Donna at Sober Mom(ologue) writes:

The whole point of drinking is to get drunk. Acting “silly,” blacking out, and hangovers are all just part of it. I have never understood the concept of just having one or two – seriously, isn’t that kind of a waste of the one or two? That is how alcoholics think.

I had heard that for years, and it was part of why I thought I wasn't an alcoholic.  I never wanted to get drunk.  I wanted to have a glass of wine or two, which for years I did and could, but eventually a glass or two became three or five more often than I wanted.  Five meant I'd finished the whole bottle, which meant the next morning I was a mess, filled with shame and self-loathing.  I never wanted to finish the bottle, never wanted to get drunk, but somehow I ended up doing it anyway.  Not every time, but often enough to convince me I had a problem.

Reading Jean's story at UnPickled confirms my assurance that not all alcoholics think the same way, because she was so much like me, and not like all the "alcoholics do/think ______" stereotypes.  I had been sober four months when I found her blog, and had met enough women like me that I knew that people who drink too much come in all kinds of packages.

I haven't read much of Sober Mom(ologue) yet, am just beginning to explore the sobriety blog scene.  I've written here before about Crying Out Now, one of the first I found, and which helped lead me to sobriety.  I have read some of Mished-up, whose author I knew from an online community before I found her blog, and some of Sober Boots, whose author Heather Kopp, like Stefanie Wilder-Taylor is brave enough to be "out there" publicly, writing about her sobriety under her own name.  Someday maybe I will be, too, but not just yet.