I've never been much of a drinker. That's probably because I've seen firsthand the damage booze can do. Every day after work, almost without fail, my father would get hammered. "Grown-up hour" started the minute he got home, either with a martini or a glass of Scotch. Then another martini or
Scotch. Or three. There was a brief window of time — after he relaxed, before he got mean — when he was approachable with a question or problem. The weekends were a whole other level. My parents entertained a lot, and Dad's job as host was bartending, which in the "Mad Men" era meant keeping everybody's drinks filled. If they weren't having people over to our house, the two of them would be at someone else's dinner party. My dad always drove, ferrying what to me was the most precious cargo: my mother, a responsible drinker whom I never saw inebriated. Of course, I worried. I don't think I ever fell asleep before they got home. I had no interest in following in my father's footsteps. With that attitude, at college I was a bit of an outlier. Alcohol abuse was rampant, a rite of passage — without the ceremony. I wasn't a teetotaler, by any means, and I tried on multiple occasions to fit in. Once, pregaming for a party that seemed important at the time, I bought a bottle of Jim Beam and drank about half of it by myself. All of a sudden, mid-festivities, the liquor hit me. I wound up puking and blacking out. I have no idea how I made it home or up to my top-bunk mattress. I do remember hitting the ground, though. At some point in the night, I fell out of bed onto the floor. Youth and resilience softened the blows, but I think it's fair to say some of my classmates learned to be alcoholics then. This week's cover story suggests they have plenty of company. In "Vermont's Hangover," Colin Flanders reports that "more than 60 percent of Vermont residents drink, a figure that's nearly 10 percent higher than the U.S. average. While most do so within limits, many cannot. Vermont ranks in the top 10 states nationally for per capita alcohol consumption, rates of binge drinking and the share of residents thought to have a diagnosable alcohol-use disorder." [content-1] Throughout adulthood I've had a pretty healthy relationship… ...read more read less
