Prost, Ömchen!

During her declining years, my mother used to drink Gin and Tonic using her special recipe: Fill a tall glass with ice, pour lots of gin over it and finally, it there was any space left, pour in a few drops of tonic. She would belt down two or three of these, drink half a bottle of wine for dinner and retire to bed with a bottle of cognac under her arm, which she replaced every two to three evenings. Since she never drank before the sun was well under the yardarm, and went to bed at nine pm, she didn’t have much time. I guess you could call her a controlled alcoholic! Her mind, she liked to say, was still like a steel trap until the very end. She eventually killed herself, but not because of and drinking problems, but becuse she developed cancer of the bladder and was scared of the pain to come.

I’m my mother’s son in that I drink a dry martini every evening at five, switch to wine for dinner and stop drinking at 8, so in a way, I’m a controlled alcoholic, too 😉