I have been writing these blogs for three years. No wonder I am at a loss for something to write about. I guess there is always a story in the back of my mind somewhere.
I haven’t told about the ego-damaging episode that happened when I was about 10. Some things live in your memory forever.
One day my brother Ray and I decided to go visit a neighbor. They had kids for us to play with. The home we went to visit already had a visitor, who was the lady’s drunk brother. I knew nothing about drunk, I had never seen a drunk person before in my life and didn’t even know what the term meant.
The lady invited us into her house and the drunk said, "That is the ugliest girl I have ever seen in my life". The lady was very kind and tried to make me feel better and the man just kept going on about how ugly I was. My brother grabbed me by the arm and said, "We have to go home". On the way home I was in tears and Ray was as upset as I was. He kept saying, "Don’t worry about him, he is crazy". I don’t think Ray knew anything more about being drunk then I did. He was 2 years older than I was, but we were not exposed to TV such as the kids are today. Our parents never drank or had drinking friends so we were somewhat naive about such things. When we got home Ray told Mom what the man had said. I don’t remember what Mom said, but she went to visit the neighbor the next day, and when she came home she explained to me that the man was drunk, and what drunk meant, and that he didn’t even know what he was saying. The damage was already done, I now had a label that I carried around for a long time. There is now a slogan called, "Don’t drink and drive". I have another one, "Don’t drink and talk".
I haven’t told about the ego-damaging episode that happened when I was about 10. Some things live in your memory forever.
One day my brother Ray and I decided to go visit a neighbor. They had kids for us to play with. The home we went to visit already had a visitor, who was the lady’s drunk brother. I knew nothing about drunk, I had never seen a drunk person before in my life and didn’t even know what the term meant.
The lady invited us into her house and the drunk said, "That is the ugliest girl I have ever seen in my life". The lady was very kind and tried to make me feel better and the man just kept going on about how ugly I was. My brother grabbed me by the arm and said, "We have to go home". On the way home I was in tears and Ray was as upset as I was. He kept saying, "Don’t worry about him, he is crazy". I don’t think Ray knew anything more about being drunk then I did. He was 2 years older than I was, but we were not exposed to TV such as the kids are today. Our parents never drank or had drinking friends so we were somewhat naive about such things. When we got home Ray told Mom what the man had said. I don’t remember what Mom said, but she went to visit the neighbor the next day, and when she came home she explained to me that the man was drunk, and what drunk meant, and that he didn’t even know what he was saying. The damage was already done, I now had a label that I carried around for a long time. There is now a slogan called, "Don’t drink and drive". I have another one, "Don’t drink and talk".
2 comments:
People can be so hurtful, and some when drinking become downright mean. A dear friend of mine had an alcoholic father. I had not been to her home in some time since we graduated from high school. I came over for a visit and he was sitting on the couch (soused, of course) in the living room, and he yelled across the room, "Wow, Jamie you got fat!" I wanted to smack him and his daughter was so embarrassed. Like you, that stayed with me for a very long time. It's too bad any of us have to know what drunk is. It just shows how long (forever) hurtful words can have power.
sometimes drunks just pass out, those are the only good kind. I'm the kind that just passes out :0)
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