you make me feel so fine.
You keep me rockin’ all the time- UB40
I never thought it would come to this. I always thought I was too good, too smart, too prideful to let this happen. Growing up I secretly vowed to myself that I would be different. I would be the exception. It might happen to everyone else, but it wasn’t going to happen to me. I was wrong. It is happening to me. I’ve fought against it my whole life, but I’m tired of fighting. This week I finally gave in. It’s not so bad. There haven’t been the furtive glances, the finger pointing, or the subtle shakes of the head that I expected. I may still be fighting my conscience, but it’s a battle I’ve already lost. It’s painful to admit, but I think it’s true. I’m turning into my parents.
Don’t we all grow up saying, “I’ll never be like my parents”? For me the epiphany that made me realize that my worst fear was coming true was when I bought a box of wine. Two years ago during a routine physical exam my doctor suggested we check my cholesterol. It came back high. His first suggestion was that I drink one glass of red wine each day. My response was, “How about a beer?” Nope, it had to be red wine. Not being a wine drinker I tried to ease the pain by buying fairly good wine. I still spent about a year choking it down like medicine every night. I eventually became accustomed to the taste and began experimenting with different brands, flavors and countries. I soon began to realize that a glass of good wine every day can get a bit pricey. I went a little cheaper now that my palate was used to the taste. I tried the less expensive wines, but still the cost was a bit more than I wanted to shell out regularly. One day I stole a guilty glance in the direction of the boxed wines. What?!!? I get 32 glasses of wine for the price of one good bottle? How could I resist?
Sadly, I now realize that this is but one small step down the slippery slope of turning into my parents. I’d love to write more, but I have to go tell my kids about the old days when telephones were actually attached to the wall by a cord. Right after that I’m going to slip into my plaid shorts, black socks, and sandals and head out to mow my lawn.