May 7, 2010: Exposed

Last night I was talking to my aunt. We don't talk often, but my mom talks to
her daily and I know she knows I'm back to not drinking and AA after a VERY long
relapse. It was the first time we'd talked since I was sober. Crap, it was the
first time we'd talked in over a year.

My grandmother was an alcoholic, and my aunt told me a story about how she knew.
My grandmother showed up at her house for a weekend visit. My aunt went into
the guest room while she was unpacking and discovered my grandmother had brought
two quarts of bourbon with her in her luggage (this would have been many years
ago, long before the days of 3 oz bottles in a ziplock bag). My grandmother
made some excuse that she didn't think my aunt would remember her brand.

Right, I said, she was sneaking alcohol in to make sure she had enough while she
was there. She didn't mean for you to see she'd brought it.

And then I remembered. The last time I had been at my aunt's house I had snuck
alcohol in too. My aunt's husband had just died after a long battle with
cancer. I was in CA on business and extended my trip to go down for the
memorial. I rented a car from the airport and stopped at a grocery store on the
way to her house to buy 2 of those 4 packs of little bottles of wine. I knew
she would serve wine, but it wouldn't be enough. I snuck the bottles in my
luggage. On the third day of 4, I had to go buy 2 more 4 packs and get rid of my
empties. Thank god for large purses.

Four bottles to supplement served wine for 4 days. Two quarts to get through
two days.

Thank God those days are over