Connecting the Dots

I made it to my first AA meeting in March 1989, when I was twenty years old. My first drunk was when I was twelve years old. My friends and I went to a little store a mile away and stole pints of Mad Dog 20/20. My pint was of the Plum Supreme variety. I remember drinking most of it and passing out on the bicycle trail. My friends had to carry me back to our fort. I woke up in the morning as drunk as when I passed out. I was muddy and I couldn't find my shoes. I stumbled across the street; on the way a friend stopped me and told me not to go home, that I was too drunk. I went anyway. My mom was doing her face in the bathroom and I tried to pass by quietly to get to my bedroom. I would have given anything to go to sleep. She saw me and asked me why my lips were stained purple. My answer: grape Kool-Aid. She immediately knew I was drunk, and proceeded to hold me in a cold shower. She wouldn't let me sleep and made me go to soccer practice, where I suffered badly. By the next day, I couldn't wait to do it again.