IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN!

Towards the end of April, a man who had been out of Donwood about a year asked me how long after taking antabuse would he have to wait before he could "safely" use alcohol. I told him he would have to wait forever.

Sure, I was playing upon words, but he had used the word "safely". His reaction was predictable....he thought I was being a wise guy and said so. I gave him the information he wanted and he cooled down.

I asked him why he wanted to know. He replied he was looking ahead to his holidays and just wanted to be sure of his facts. At this point, I shifted gears a bit and asked him what his plans were. He immediately became enthusiastic.

"The wife and I have always wanted to see the east coast and this year we decided we would do it, come hell or high water - we haven't had a really good holiday in years." I asked him about last summer, his first summer after being in Donwood.

"Well" he said "we really didn't really do anything last summer - I had some bills that had to be paid and I really didn't feel much like going anywhere, anyway - I don't think the wife did either."

I asked him about the summer before that. He half snorted, half chuckled and said "That was the first time we were going to go down east, but we never got there. We had planned to drive down and were to leave on a Monday. I got so stoned on Saturday and Sunday that the wife refused to go. I stayed drunk for three weeks".

As we talked on he seemed to realize that he was boxing himself in - that he was developing a good case for "not" drinking on his holidays. It made him a bit unhappy.

"Damn it all, a man SHOULD be able to take a drink on his holidays," he muttered. He had just told me a story that proved that HE couldn't. He was uncomfortable - he was being pulled in two directions at the same time and it hurt.

After another ten or fifteen minutes, he suddenly asked if he could use my phone. He was calling his wife. When she answered, he told her where he was and about our conversation. Then he said, "honey, you're married to a damn fool that just might be getting smarter. I'm NOT going to drink on that holiday or any other time if I can help it - it's going to be the best damn holiday we ever had." I think he may be right.

How are your holiday plans coming?

MIKE WILSON

Mike was on the staff at Donwood at that time. A very compelling story. This bolsters my contention that taking Antabuse is an excellent idea for the alcoholic that wants to keep sober. As in my case, when I took antabuse I knew I could NOT drink for at least a couple of days. This forced me to contemplate what would happen if I did. I always landed up not drinking after talking it over with my wife, or the Donwood Staff, or Dr. Birtch.