One thing you never hear is "60 and suddenly a drunk". It took many years for most of us - being a drunk wasn't a sudden event. However, many of us have come to realize that we spent 20 years or more being a drunk, and time flies when you miss a lot of it.
Like Dee and some others, I was a two beers for breakfast guy followed by one after another all day. No need to count them up but 3 or 4 an hour was not uncommon. In the later years it was a beer and a shot for breakfast followed by another and another until I "got right", then it was just beer after beer. And it wasn't sudden for sure. But all of a sudden, where did the time go...
I think of Morgan Freeman in "Shawshank Redemption" giving his reply to the parole board. "I wish I could go back in time and talk some sense into him... But I can't, this old man is all that's left..."
How many of us wish we could back in time and know what we know now? We just have to suck it up, realize the err of our ways and start anew. It's never too late to get your life back. 10 good years beats 20 bad years any way you look at it. Fortunately, I'm confident that I have 30 good years left.