Yup, nothing like the excuse of a storm or natural disaster or an emergency in the family to get the alcoholic juices flowing. But why is that? When a storm blows in (in Alaska, severe weather is a character in your life, a consideration in every plan), I most need to be competent - for myself, but mostly for others. What if I am called upon to rescue the elder woman who lives down the street, what if I have to drive to safety, what if I have to make decisions that impact my friends or family's safety - and I'm drunk?
I can't tell you how many accidents up here are a result of people drinking alcohol and then - snowmachining, chopping wood, driving, four-wheeling, fishing, boating, hunting... I've lost people I love to alcohol related accidents.
One of the things I'm most loving about sobriety is the knowledge that if there is a crisis (a blizzard, a bear attack, a car accident) anywhere in my vicinity, I will be capable and competent as a rescuer. I am not only safer myself, but everyone who passes through my story each day is a little bit safer. Because you can knock on my cabin door now - in the middle of the storm - and I can drive your mother to the hospital. I am sober, and I can be counted on...