.
Welp, good job on establishing them all-important Boundaries with your Holidazed Chums. Or, as I call them [and called myself] for Years: 'Designated Drunks'.
The veritable plethora of assumptions in Booze Universe finally got to be amusing, once I'd slogged through a variety of such situations. The whole 'why
wouldn't you be the one to drive us back' strikes me as similar to when De Wimmen Folk are simply expected to clean up after a Holiday Meal [that they likely cooked] while De Men Folk plop down to watch Sports on TV.
An ancillary bit of nonsense was back when I was supposed to find it 'OK' if MesaMate went to hit local Wineries with visiting Gal Pals, and returned Home in a state somewhere between tipsy and hammered. THAT was presumed to be OK because the actual Alcohol consumption didn't go down in my presence. SO, I put the kibosh on that over time. Not surprisingly, things are now fine on such topics because I put forth the Sober Spouse Alt POV. And, stood my ground.
A wicked lil Social Sidebar is that Designated Drunks often proceed to get full-tilt hammered because they know in advance they have a Sober Driver. Not
quite identical to me being a Codie to Inebriation as that pre-ordained Sober Driver, but close enough. A lot of these situations just fade over time and - in my Life, anyway - have become non-issues. I just hate getting blindsided, so I've learned to work out my Lines in advance. Then, they just roll off my Tongue w/o stammering for a response. Plus, I'd set forth my expectations before we went out for the Night. Leaving things to chance can be disastrous when Sober vs. Booze Universe expectations collide. Common Sense is relative.
These Days, I'm practicing a sort of 'Buddhist Lite' Routine. Just carry on being a source of Sober Living. Let others observe the tranquility of that Existence, even if they're still drinking. Mebbe they'll ask some questions sometime. Mebbe not. I can carry on, as can they, in parallel Existences in this Universe. This approach sho fosters Sober Serenity. And, it cuts
way down on the Signal-to-Noise Loops, and Future-Fretting, in my Brain.
'There's no place like Home', eh Toto? Sunset here last Night...
