Kyrgyzstan
So AH's latest binge--the record two-month binge of 7 bottles of wine a day--is over. Still couldn't get into any detox programme but he was so desperate to quit that he white-knuckled it and detoxed at home with a lot of shaking and vomiting and weird infected eyes.
People in his circle of friends have taken to contacting me to offer their "support." I think that he reached out a bit more during the last binge and asked other people for help, and so a lot of his acquaintances in town have in turn reached out to me. Which sounds nice, right? Except that most often this takes the form of:
1. Stories of dead alcoholics. I've gotten three emails in the past week with stories about people's brothers-in-law, uncles, or friends who died horrible deaths from alcohol-related diseases. Thanks!
2. Stories of how strong and capable I am. If I scarcely know you--if we've literally met once at a Christmas party--of course you've never seen me cry and moan. So of course I seem strong and capable to you. Is this just people's way of saying, "It's no big deal, is it, really? So I don't have to actually do anything besides send an email, right?"
2. Inviting me and AH out to the pub. Or, you know, for cocktails at someone's house. For some togetherness time or something. I wish I were making this up.
Tonight I have been looking at jobs in Kyrgyzstan. No, I'm not kidding. I need a change of scenery.