Originally Posted by
August252015 
Adding my comments.....don't go.
Wondering why you haven't addressed this til last minute, as it seems to have caused a whole lot of drama and angst for you. If you haven't got yet, however, it's still not too late to cancel.
To put too fine a point on it....I bet your good friend will be a lot more disappointed if you die of alcoholism than miss a birthday dinner.
Just sayin'.....this is your life we're talking about. At any costs, to any lengths. How much do you want to stay sober?
I've 'left it to the last minute' because the plans were not concrete until this morning. There was a strong possibility it was just going to be a pub type $30 meal this time yesterday.
As for drama and angst, well yeah, I'm basically a decent person who doesn't like letting others down. So I'm unhappy about it.
I'm going to call and cancel and offer to take my friend out for lunch next week. I feel sick at the thought. Yep, more drama and angst but it is what it is.