Lars: daddy, I look more and more like you

“Announcing you're only having 1 beer is like jumping off an apartment building and saying you'll fall to the fourth floor”, this was one of my father's many comments on the many 'wet' birthdays used to be when asked about a second beer. And he was right about his 'you look good' blushing red face and animating talent from ear to ear.
Then when he showed up for breakfast far too late and curtly the next morning and my mother's eyes were on war, I didn't know that yesterday's alcohol dropped him even further than the ground floor.

Last December I was on my way to work by car and I heard Stef Bos the far too sweet song daddy i'm more and more like you to sing. A good reason to immediately switch to another channel. Because stupid song or not, Stef was right and in a short moment my father saw me in the rearview mirror. Coincidentally (?) the IkPass slogan passed by on that other channel and in a split second I knew what to do. I would stop giving in to that oh-so-cozy Burgundian thought that anything should be possible with alcohol as a great booster. That always spinning animal was allowed back in its cage.

It is now day 21… When people ask me how I came to stop drinking for a while (and hopefully longer) I say "just don't do it". Sounds simple, but being able to turn off your self-pity and recognize your drinking pattern from a distance makes it a lot easier. And yes, the days are sometimes too bright and the evenings are longer than usual but who cares. This is so much better. Always present with my real emotions. 6 kilos of weight lost and 40 cans of Fanta Zero later I sleep like a baby without being wide awake at 4 a.m. and having to look for sleep.

I pass.

Lars