For over a week now, I’ve stayed away from alcohol, hoping to keep a few pounds off and not add to the certain depression of sitting at home. My wife hasn’t done any drinking either since we got back from Arizona. She has had a couple of wine club shipments and continues to maintain an extensive stock. In fact, there are over 100 bottles in her temperature-controlled wine cooler and another 20 in the refrigerator. My choice to abstain is obviously not based on availability. This is also not a unique experience, since I typically undergo an annual New Year’s drying out process. It did not last long this year, so we’ll have to see how long this particular holdout will go on?

Without the Friday “Leadership Meetings” or game day-get-togethers at area sports bars, there is no temptation for a cold beer, either. It’s easy to stop drinking when there’s no peer pressure. We had done a lot of celebrating to start the year, taking a case of wine to Florida, Las Vegas, and Arizona as part of our free luggage deal with Alaska Airlines. I’m not one to turn down a martini when we go out to eat, but that’s not happened for two weeks. I also enjoyed some limoncello that a friend made and some St. Patrick’s Day margaritas. In addition, a bottle of wine a night is not unusual while we’re Chillin’ with Netflix. I think I’ve already drank, drunk, or drunken my quota for the first half of the year, so a couple of months off will certainly not hurt me. 

My wife is more of a collector than consumer. She loves to go to Oregon wine country or Napa Valley and sample the wares. This is just another activity that will be on hold for awhile. She enjoys entertaining with wine and food, but has reduced her memberships to only three since our apartment is not really suitable for big dinner parties. In fact, most of our square footage is wine storage that has at times extended into closets, car trunks, cabinets and even under the beds. “Be Prepared with Fine Wines” is her motto. On the other hand, my taste buds are not quite as sensitive, so I tend to drink “free” wine from my married friends’ personal vineyard. Granted, I do have to work for it with some pruning, dump detail, crushing, bottling, cleaning, and manly muscle power. I got off easy this year because their crop was destroyed by the heavy rains, so we’ll have to rely on bottles from previous years. I can’t even drive to their house and pick-up a case because of the stay-at-home order. Just another reason to quit for awhile. 

Happy Hour will have to wait until times are a little more cheerful. If I fall behind and “the low alcohol light comes on” in the next few months, I’ll have the rest of the year to catch-up. The only thing that might change is if they find that drinking wine slows the spread of Coronavirus. However, I think that they unfortunately already have the answer since the wine-crazed Italians were so vulnerable. Mexico is now about the only place where you can still go to a winery, but that will probably change, or forbid, we’ll have to break-through walls. Regardless, with my recently self-imposed quarantine against alcohol, all that I can offer now is a virtual toast. Cheers!