Sixty-five Years Under the Influence

Every day of my sixty-five years has been lived under the influence of alcohol. No, I didn't order a Scotch instead of milk for my first swig, but alcohol started doing its number on my life within a few hours of my birth. And has never stopped. Even my nearly eight years of sobriety are one result of the influence alcohol had on my life, albeit a most welcome one. But the influence of alcohol on the course of my life, on its various pathways, byways, freeways, and out-of-the-ways, was just as dominant as when I wasn't drinking. For it is indeed cunning, baffling, and powerful, and it reaches into the smallest crannies and darkest corners of our lives. It can reach down generations of families who fall under its influence.