Sunday, December 18, 2011

What happened

We went to a party last night at a nearby marina where some friends keep their boat. There were lots of great boat decorations and great food. We had clam chowder, gumbo, chicken balls (!), crab dip and some assorted other snacks. Boat people are generally good cooks from what I've seen.

Sadly, on Saturday morning, a fatality occurred on the bridge I wrote about earlier. This time it was a drunk driver who rammed a car from behind causing it to skid out of control, hit the barricade and burst into flames. The driver died from burns and other injuries. The drunken 32 year old behind the wheel had minor injuries and is charged with felony DUI.

Now one life is gone and several others ruined. Maybe some of the sobriety checkpoints will be a deterrent. I know that it's good to get off the roads fairly early before the bars close. This accident happened at 4 AM so it must have been a very late party.

Most if the parties we go to have booze, but people seem to not be overdoing it. We don't stay more than a couple of hours. I guess we have become old farts when it comes to parties.

Someone asked me the other night what happened to the old days when we used to hang out. I said, "Well, we got older." I could add that the old days were pretty crazy and after a while the late night parties ceased to be fun for me. Then the drinking moved to our house and that line got crossed from a few glasses of wine to drinking alcoholically. Now there is another chapter in which drinking is no longer the center of our world.

To say that I am grateful is an understatement. We are together, things are good, and life seems filled with healthy promises. What a gift.

17 comments:

  1. A person in my home group lost both of her parents to a drunk driver. Sad irony and a waste.

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  2. glad you have a group that you can hang with that does not over do it...ugh on the fatality and so many lives affected in an instance...

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  3. How sad, how terribly sad. But thank God you and C don;t have to live that fear...just for today.

    Im glad you and the boat people enjoy fun..safe fun, together.

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  4. So sad about the fatality. Glad your party was good.

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  5. Man, I almost rammed a guy today from behind and I was stone-cold sober. I do not think he had his turn signal on. It was scary. I could never drink and drive because the possibility of hurting another human while I was under the influence is something I could never live with.
    Syd- you and your wife have done the hard work to get to where you are. You are not just lucky- you know that. You knew what you wanted and you found a way to make that work.
    Be proud as well as grateful.

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  6. It always hits me right in the gut when I hear of a fatality due to another person's drunkeness. Such a waste and no wonder the general public has little patience with the alcoholic.
    As to parties ... I still go but last a short time. Usually I find them boring.
    All the best to you and C on this last week before Christmas.

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  7. I was just thinking about drinking and partys. Many people got pretty high at my work party, a few got plainly drunk. But they are all hard working, responsible people. None of them would ever consider driving after a night of drinking. It doesn't bother me if people drink in these situations.

    But we go home early too;)

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  8. The fatality is sobering. The accident on the bridge is not the only accident involving alcohol that I have heard about lately. A friend in my primary program is dealing with the news of an alcoholic accident that may have simply involved one person falling. Alcohol being involved in his concussion, led to bleeding in the brain. Saying a prayer for this once dear person, his life is in the balance as I write.

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  9. I can't help but think of the amount of lives that will be affected by that tragic accident. Very few will be left untouched. That kind of horror has a ripple affect.

    Please enjoy the remainder of your holiday. You and C deserve some levity.

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  10. Had a pang of fear on reading this because our roads are mayhem with drunken drivers. Stay safe Syd.

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  11. Such a tragedy, and at this time too.

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  12. I must be a real prick or something ...ha ha ha ha ha not even our relatives invite us to their fancy Christmas parties and dinners and bullshit anymore. Which is cool because it means I don't have to negotiate the drunks and associated ignorance of anyone other than my stupidest dog. But even she is getting smarter than most people I know.

    Want to be forgotten by friends and relatives...move to the slum.

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  13. My husband is a recovering alcoholic, so I always have a designated driver. This is such a sad story, and, sadly, not uncommon during the holidays.

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  14. Tragic. When I hear of drunk driving deaths I feel guilty by association for some weird reason. I have never driven drunk either.

    And I've seen plenty of people leave parties, etc too sloshed for my comfort. My comfort may be different than someone else's comfort but since I'm deaf, I see things differently...like the way their feet hit the pavement, the way their shoulders are carried, their eyes, etc..

    So many lives will be impacted by the death on the bridge....

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  15. The sad domino effect of one person's choice to drink, drive and kill.

    We generally don't go to parties but if we do, I usually insist we leave early. Paritally, because I like to go to bed early :) Secondly, I don't want to deal with the ride home later after my husband has drank too much. I choose not to put myself in that situation anymore.

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  16. I have a couple of parties to go to Friday. One is a program party that will be sober, which I'm looking forward to--I don't go to many sober parties, and it feels like a bit of pressure to "have fun" and "relax" will be taken off--everyone can just be themselves. The other is a work-party that will have lots of alcohol.

    I enjoy the photos of your harbor culture. x /G

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