Read: Part I
There used to be a bar about 5 minutes away from where I grew-up. (It's still there but it's since changed owners and gone through a few name changes.) It was called the "Copy Cat" and the owner and operator was my old baseball coach. I used to go there a lot - back when drinking was fun and innocent, and getting drunk was a lot more fun and not quite so innocent.
When I would come home from college, that's usually the first place I'd head when I went out. And after college I liked to go there for Happy Hour after a week of work at the bank. Most times I would invite my friends from work to join me. Most of the time they would. And one Friday I asked Carrie to come out with all of us and she said she'd meet us after she went home to change.
And so, though I didn't know it at the time, we started down the path. A path that would lead to a great romance, a wedding, 2 children, and lots of laughs. A path that would also lead to a lot of drinking, passing out in the bathroom or on the patio or in the hall, throwing-up blood, and several trips to rehab.
How fitting that it all began with laughs in a bar where there was plenty of drinking. It's even more fitting that what was destined to turn sideways and spin out of control, actually began with a sideways kiss.
I remember Carrie and I were sitting beside each other in the crowded bar. The music and the yelling was so loud that we had to put our cheeks together so that our mouths were to each other's ears. And that's when we shared our first kiss - as the side of our mouths touched. A sideways kiss.
And that began our romance.
How I was in love. Head over heels.
This girl captivated me. Because there was something about her. She was beautiful with red hair and blue eyes and a smile that lit up the darkest corners of my being.
But there was something about her. Something that made me want to take her in my arms and hold her forever. But this was something more too. Something I couldn't quite get a finger on.
But how this girl loved to have a good time. And man could she drink. More than most guys I knew.
And sure, she did a stint in rehab when she was 15 and another one when she was 17, but she was just a kid and her parents overreacted and all kids drank and she knew her limits and she loved me and wanted to be with me forever. And all that mattered was the present and the future. Who cared about the past?
Who cared? I certainly didn't. I was in love with a red-haired beauty who smiled for me when I needed her to, and that's all that mattered.
Or so I believed.
Read Part III Now
There used to be a bar about 5 minutes away from where I grew-up. (It's still there but it's since changed owners and gone through a few name changes.) It was called the "Copy Cat" and the owner and operator was my old baseball coach. I used to go there a lot - back when drinking was fun and innocent, and getting drunk was a lot more fun and not quite so innocent.
When I would come home from college, that's usually the first place I'd head when I went out. And after college I liked to go there for Happy Hour after a week of work at the bank. Most times I would invite my friends from work to join me. Most of the time they would. And one Friday I asked Carrie to come out with all of us and she said she'd meet us after she went home to change.
And so, though I didn't know it at the time, we started down the path. A path that would lead to a great romance, a wedding, 2 children, and lots of laughs. A path that would also lead to a lot of drinking, passing out in the bathroom or on the patio or in the hall, throwing-up blood, and several trips to rehab.
How fitting that it all began with laughs in a bar where there was plenty of drinking. It's even more fitting that what was destined to turn sideways and spin out of control, actually began with a sideways kiss.
I remember Carrie and I were sitting beside each other in the crowded bar. The music and the yelling was so loud that we had to put our cheeks together so that our mouths were to each other's ears. And that's when we shared our first kiss - as the side of our mouths touched. A sideways kiss.
And that began our romance.
How I was in love. Head over heels.
This girl captivated me. Because there was something about her. She was beautiful with red hair and blue eyes and a smile that lit up the darkest corners of my being.
But there was something about her. Something that made me want to take her in my arms and hold her forever. But this was something more too. Something I couldn't quite get a finger on.
But how this girl loved to have a good time. And man could she drink. More than most guys I knew.
And sure, she did a stint in rehab when she was 15 and another one when she was 17, but she was just a kid and her parents overreacted and all kids drank and she knew her limits and she loved me and wanted to be with me forever. And all that mattered was the present and the future. Who cared about the past?
Who cared? I certainly didn't. I was in love with a red-haired beauty who smiled for me when I needed her to, and that's all that mattered.
Or so I believed.
Read Part III Now
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