Think of Me and Don't Drink. . .

It was six P.M. and Beth was now almost four hours late. I was frantic and heartsick. Beth and I had divorced by mutual consent five months earlier because of alcohol. Our romance had been launched with vodka, but when booze became more of a problem than a hobby, we decided to seek help and join AA. I stuck with the program; Beth didn't. Finally, after Beth went through three years of rehab clinics, continuing hospital confinements for detoxification, unsuccessful interventions, and two suicide attempts, I gave up and suggested divorce. She agreed because she had found a psychologist who told her I was the cause of her alcoholism. The financial settlement left her with over $100,000, and she took off to Santa Barbara to "start a new life."