Lauren’s questions this week are about alcohol. After reading them I felt like a really boring person because I never seem to have had any of the same childhood and teen experiences as others. Just kidding. I had a great childhood and it was my choice not to experiment with things that others my age did. here are the questions.

This week’s prompt is: Suds, Buds, and Vino

1) Did you grow up in a family that had beer or wine at family meals? Were either beverages part of your parent’s “relaxation” time?

2) Was wine consumed as part of religious or family celebrations? If so, when?

3) Were you allowed to have a “sip” of the adult beverages?

4) When you were a teenager did it bother you that your parents had one set of behaviors, yet you were expected to have another?

I will take these first four questions together because they are pretty much related in my mind.

No, my family never drank beer or wine at family meals nor did they drink in their “relaxation” time. The only time I ever saw alcohol was at Christmas/New Year when they might open a bottle of Port or maybe Sherry. I don’t recall ever being offered any. I didn’t really encounter the idea of wine at ordinary meals at home until I first met David’s family. I was just eighteen by then and naturally was offered a glass of wine with my meal. I didn’t grow up thinking alcohol was necessarily bad; it just wasn’t something we did. I recall mum talking about enjoying a shandy, beer mixed with lemonade, in hot weather but didn’t try it until I was an adult. I had no reason to feel that my parents had a double standard.

5) When you were in high school, did you or your friends drink alcohol? If you were underaged, how did you acquire the booze?

6) Were you offered marijuana or other drugs while in high school? If you chose to partake, did it get you into trouble, or were you never caught?

No to both of these. I was a boring kid with few friends and those I did have were like me and didn’t drink as far as I am aware. I didn’t go to parties or other places where I might encounter underage drinking. I don’t recall ever being offered drugs or even being really aware of them while I was at school although I did have workmates who smoked dope in my early working years.

7) Did you ever get too drunk or too high to function? How did your body react to that?

No. I have been tipsy a few times and aware of feeling light headed but I’ve never been too drunk to function. I don’t like not to be in control. I have never tried any kind of drugs. I’ve never even smoked a cigarette.

8) Have your opinions about taking drugs and drinking alcohol changed over time? Are you more conservative or more liberal than you were in your youth?

I don’t think that I have changed substantially over the years. I tend to think that alcohol is OK in moderation. I enjoy a glass of wine or occasionally a cider or a beer but sometimes I go months without having any. I don’t drink spirits as a rule. I still think that drugs are dangerous not only for the people who take them but for others. People who drive when they are high are just as dangerous as those who drink because they have an altered reality. I have heard that marijuana is very good for pain but you can’t go out and buy it over the counter here. I think it should be available to those who live with chronic pain if it helps them. Party drugs are another matter. I probably am a bit more liberal or at least a bit less easily shocked now I’m older but I still think that people need to know their limits with these things and unfortunately many don’t seem to be able to help themselves.

9) If applicable, did you raise your children with the same beliefs that you grew up with?

Not applicable to me.

10) If you had any input over alcohol or marijuana laws, would you change them?

I think I’d probably make marijuana more readily available for medicinal purposes. I’m not sure about letting people grow their own for recreational purposes though.