Day 188 - US Thanksgiving

Not even noon yet and I'm escaping into the blogosphere after having just purchased more booze for the family.  When I called the liquor store at 10:20 the owner answered and said they'd be open till 5 then closed for dinner from 5 to 7 then open again from 7 to 9.  After telling the family along with "so you're set" I thought "wow, they really know this holiday, don't they?"

Eldest has gin in the house - she's the only one who drinks it - and at 8:30 this morning I had a brief romanticized image of sipping some on the rocks with club soda and lime for that burny-on-empty-stomach rush...but I got over it. Reminded myself that morning drinking -never- had a good outcome ever-ever-ever and that I needed my wits about me for the visit of Lursa and B'etor later in the day.

It's gonna be a tense day though; rest of family already edgy, Eldest is needlessly stressed over the food prep and of course drinking has begun. However I got a somewhat surprising burst of support from the family as I was preparing to go get the libations: they were teasing about "except for Mom...she's the -determined- Designated Driver" and I said something about "these past couple days have been pretty hard" and Spouse said "oh I wouldn't let you even if you wanted to right now; I'd knock the drink out of your hand.  I'm so proud and envious of you" and I said "well, today is Day 188 and I'm not about to mess that up--I really want to get past where I did last time" and Eldest cut in to say "that's really pretty amazing, Mom. There are people who go to AA and do the chips and everything and they don't get that far."  Then I shared that what I really wanted was a whole year which was May 21 and got more support including "...and we'll stop making fun of you.  For that anyway." 

I count that as a pretty big win.

Also decided what my 6-month treat would be: new undies. Nothing fancy or exotic or exciting but I had let my current stuff get on the ratty side and realized "hey, you're _fifty_ now and that's old enough that you never know if something will happen healthwise so you never know....and maybe that sounds a bit morbid but back in my twenties I -did- have an accident with a rat water bottle and ended up getting a nerve repaired in my thumb with what *I* thought would be local and a sedative but which turned out to be I went to sleep in one hospital johnny and woke up in a completely different one and yes I -had- been wearing my rattiest pair of underpants so there you are.

But I got the stuff in my Joann's Fabrics shopping cart too just to have a toy.

And now the stress has really begun because B'etor is on her way without Lursa and Eldest is going completely off the rails with the food. More later.

--Much Later--

Have just climbed under the covers thinking "we DID it!" as far as surviving turkey day with Lursa and B'etor...I mean Scylla and Charybdis...I mean my aunt-in-law and mother-in-law. Spouse ordered the Brazilian spirit Cashaca (pretend that second c has a dangly tail) and that turned out to be a smart move because MiL likkered up is easier to do business with. As mentioned, everyone else started drinking way early in the day but fortunately by the time they were to the sloppy getting on my sober nerves stage it was time to drive the old ladies home and get son in law off to work. The radio gods rewarded me on the way back with "Fanfare for the Common Man" on the classical station; that was a nice thing. Overall the day wasn't nearly as bad as everyone had made it out to be (even me) and it is OVER...with long term benefit of now having dining room and front room clean/useable again.

Sober: it's what's for dinner.