Daily Dose of Sultnpapper 12/31/17> It finally happened….

The last day of 2017 is here and it will not be a wild night of celebration for the old Sultpapper, those days are long behind me. I had wild New Years Eve celebrations in my life time that is for sure, some more memorable than others, one particular one changed my life forever.

When I was younger I was a whiskey drinker, not just a little bit of it, I mean a whole lot of it. Jack Daniels and I were on a first name basis like most good friends are, and he had a habit of calling me more evenings than not to have a drink. Despite the fact that we were such good friends it seemed like I was always the one paying the price when we went drinking.

It seemed like whenever we got together for a drink I was the one who would end up having to drive, Jack would never drive, but he always convinced me that I was I fine, and we could make it home without getting pulled over or killing somebody. Forty years ago it wasn’t as big a deal if you got a DWI as it is today, the fines weren’t as stiff, and you didn’t have all the publicity around drunk driving as we do today. The truth be told, it wasn’t even against the law to drink and drive back then.

Plenty of convenient stores here in Texas I swear survived by selling single 16 ounce tall boys in little brown paper bags. They would have water troughs full of beer and ice right up front near the cash register so you didn’t have to walk to the coolers located along the back wall of the store. It wasn’t until the middle of the 1990’s that it became illegal to have an open container of alcohol. The feds threatened to cut off grant money for transportation projects if the State didn’t pass a law against open containers. All governments want that money so the law was passed, you can still find the water troughs with ice and beer near the registers by the way.

New Years Eve 1978 was the night that changed my life, well it didn’t happen that night, but it was a result of that night and my celebration of New Years. I was 22 years old and bullet proof, nothing could phase me, and if did I just picked myself up, brushed myself off, and went at it again. That night I got an early start on celebrating, I was in the bar by 7:00 PM and I wasn’t alone, Jack Daniels was there too. He and I had a big time that night, drinking, playing pool and dancing. The key thing in evaluating how drunk we had gotten is the dancing, I am not a dancer but Jack talked me into it. The Texas two step is hard enough when you are sober, but it seems to get a little easier when you are with friends drinking.

The thing about Texas ice houses is that they don’t sell whiskey or hard liquor, you can bring your own bottle and the ice house will put your name on your bottle and then sell you what is called a “set up”, which is whatever soda or water and ice you want with your booze. It really works out well if you’re a hard drinker, buying a fifth of whiskey by the shot can get pretty darn expensive, a whole bunch less when you are buying it by the bottle.

So, on New Year’s Eve in 1978 I was pretty well lit up by 10:30 PM, my buddy Jack was on empty too. Lucky for me though that Jack’s twin brother was waiting outside in my truck, his name was Jack also. You would think the Daniels family could come up with more names than Jack, but they didn’t. Well I went out to see if Jack wanted to come inside and hang out but he said let’s call it a night, so we left.

Only by the grace of God did we make it home that night, we drank a little on the drive home too. When we finally made it to the back door I had to carry Jack using my right hand to keep him steady. I was wasted and he was half gone by then too. I opened the screen door using my left hand and then used my body to hold the door open while I tried the handle on the inside door. Jack was sort of wobbling around but I still had a good grip on him. The damn door was locked; my keys to the door were in my pocket. I remember like it was yesterday when I looked at Jack and let go of him so I could get my keys out of my pocket. Jack didn’t survive the fall that night on to the back porch, it was solid concrete. The sound of Jack crashing and breaking woke the dog and the parents, the dog met me as I stumbled in the door. My dad met in the hall by the kitchen, he was not a happy camper either. We agreed to disagree and we would discuss at a later time, there was a bed calling now and I needed it more than it needed me.

I didn’t wake up until after noon on New Year’s Day, and when I did I wish I hadn’t. My head was about six sizes larger than normal; well at least it felt that way. I scraped up the remnants of Jack from his demise and went back to bed. That hang over was one for the record books, it wasn’t until the following day that I even felt like looking at food, let alone eating it.

My dad wasn’t in the best health at the time, and in fact it would only be two months later that we would be burying him. I had a drinking problem and my dad knew it, and before he died we had a long talk. He talked, I listened. My dad was a beer drinker and smoker, the smoking is what ended up getting him in the end. While he was in the hospital and we were having this talk he told me that the whiskey would end up getting me if I didn’t stop with it.

Now my dad and I were not best friends by any means, and I think that is how it should be , my friend Jack never told me I had a drinking problem, my dad did. The problem was my dad was trying to get me to make him a promise as he was dying that I wouldn’t drink any more whiskey. Now that was a hell of thing for him to do, ask me to give up my best friend and promise I wouldn’t drink with any of his relatives too.

I learned early in life to not make promises I couldn’t keep, my dad never got that promise out of me that day, and he passed away the next day. During the discussion we had while he was trying to get me to make that promise he brought up how drunk I was on the past New Years Eve, so drunk that I thought a bottle of whiskey could levitate while I got my keys out of my pocket.

While I never promised my dad that I would stop drinking whiskey I never told him I wouldn’t either. I didn’t want to make a promise I couldn’t keep. I told him I would do my best to leave old Jack and the rest of the whiskey families alone.

That was 39 years ago that Jack and I went out drinking for the last time on New Year’s Eve, we went out for a couple drinks between New Year’s Eve and when my dad passed but we didn’t get stupid drunk like the night Jack got shattered on the back porch.

I didn’t know at the time that I would be able to leave the whiskey alone, but I have not had even a sip of whiskey since my dad has passed away. I’m not opposed to drinking, I’ll still have some beers and even a glass of wine now and then, but hard liquor and I won’t be found in each other’s company.

So this New Years Eve I’ll celebrate at home with a Corona and a slice of lime, I’ll be celebrating but not the New Year, I’ll be celebrating the fact that I was able to give up my best friend, Jack Daniels, and I’m sure my dad would be proud that I did.

Damn, I never did tell you what finally happened. I won the Steem Poker League tourney on Saturday night. That is what I started this blog to be about; sorry I got side tracked and off on New Year’s Eve from years past.

Enjoy your New Year’s Eve, be smart and safe. I need all of you back here next year with me.
@sultnpapper

https://steemfollower.com/?r=7580
https://sola.ai/sultnpapper