Alcohol???

“You won’t put beer in my refrigerator!” said my mother to whomever had brought beer on their visit!! This was the strict household I was brought up in — no beer — no alcohol. If my father wanted a drink, he would have to go to the local bar. He was brought up in a different household, not respected by my mother’s rules. As I was a high school student, we never drank alcohol - it was depression time and no one had money to spend foolishly! I never had the desire to drink but while I was in nurses training, we used to go to the local bar just to have some place to go. I would have a glass of wine. After I was married to a Navy officer we would go to the local officers’ club to socialize and I would have a Tom Collins which tasted like lemonade to me! As time went by, we entertained a lot and liquor was added to our pantry, and became a way of life. I still wasn’t interested in drinking — a glass of wine would last all evening. As we had our family, we still had many parties. I recall one morning as I came down after a big party, my daughters were drinking the left-overs from glasses which hadn’t been picked up!! Needless to say, after that, I always cleaned up after a party before I went to bed. Fortunately our family never had a “drinking problem” but we do enjoy having a social drink with family and friends.