Losing Patti

One day in March, back in 2002, my sister, Patti, called to say she had cancer. Suffice it to say, I embarked on a bender, or rather, a giant pity party, because after all, my sister had cancer, right? It seemed like a good enough reason at the time. I was already drinking daily anyway and at what I called, the "functional drunk" stage, so a "little" more wouldn't hurt, would it?