One minute of my life
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Midwest
Posts: 4,860
One minute of my life
I spent the week before last on business in Philadelphia. With a bit of time to kill before I had to head to the airport, I stopped in a lovely restaurant to get something yummy. Glanced at the menu, without my reading glasses, while checking emails at the same time. Settled on banana bread pudding and ... Mexican coffee.
My order arrived. The coffee is lusciously topped with whipped cream and cinnamon -- yum! Then I take a drink. What's that? Another sip. Oh yeah. That's whiskey. Mexican coffee is Irish coffee with cinnamon.
What I learned: Pay attention and if you need reading glasses, for God's sake, wear them. Over the years, I'd read of others getting blindsided but figured it could never happen to me. Until it did.
So there I am. Alone in a Philadelphia restaurant, with just an hour before I need to catch a Lyft. No one knows me. What the hell, right? No one will know.
What I learned: Everything you've read or heard about the AV is true. Cunning and patient. Six years sober, and for a few seconds, I'm thinking I could drink just this once.
Cunning and patient. But I deserve better.
I motioned the waitress over. With a sheepish apology, I said I would like to get regular coffee instead. Then, almost as a footnote: "I'm in recovery. I'm sure this is a lovely Mexican coffee but I can't have it."
The waitress smiled and said: "I'm in recovery, too! Two and a half years. Tomorrow is my birthday and it'll be my third sober." Before I left the restaurant we hugged and wished each other the best.
Heading back to my hotel, my route took me through Penn's Landing on the Delaware River. There, people were setting up for Philly's annual recovery walk, where tens of thousands of people participate the next day. The honor guard, folks with 10 years or more of sobriety, lead the walk. They're my heroes.
You can fill stadium upon stadium with those of us in recovery. None of us got to where we are with a golden ticket -- just hard work, starting from a rough place.
We're everywhere. You often don't know it. Sometimes you do. Maybe someone serving you coffee. You can be part of it, too.
My order arrived. The coffee is lusciously topped with whipped cream and cinnamon -- yum! Then I take a drink. What's that? Another sip. Oh yeah. That's whiskey. Mexican coffee is Irish coffee with cinnamon.
What I learned: Pay attention and if you need reading glasses, for God's sake, wear them. Over the years, I'd read of others getting blindsided but figured it could never happen to me. Until it did.
So there I am. Alone in a Philadelphia restaurant, with just an hour before I need to catch a Lyft. No one knows me. What the hell, right? No one will know.
What I learned: Everything you've read or heard about the AV is true. Cunning and patient. Six years sober, and for a few seconds, I'm thinking I could drink just this once.
Cunning and patient. But I deserve better.
I motioned the waitress over. With a sheepish apology, I said I would like to get regular coffee instead. Then, almost as a footnote: "I'm in recovery. I'm sure this is a lovely Mexican coffee but I can't have it."
The waitress smiled and said: "I'm in recovery, too! Two and a half years. Tomorrow is my birthday and it'll be my third sober." Before I left the restaurant we hugged and wished each other the best.
Heading back to my hotel, my route took me through Penn's Landing on the Delaware River. There, people were setting up for Philly's annual recovery walk, where tens of thousands of people participate the next day. The honor guard, folks with 10 years or more of sobriety, lead the walk. They're my heroes.
You can fill stadium upon stadium with those of us in recovery. None of us got to where we are with a golden ticket -- just hard work, starting from a rough place.
We're everywhere. You often don't know it. Sometimes you do. Maybe someone serving you coffee. You can be part of it, too.
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Warwick RI
Posts: 1,276
I hope your not considering this a relapse? That would be crazy...You didn't overindulge..it was an accident on your part....Congratulations on 6 years!
The only thing I do wonder thou...is has this set off a new obsession or are you OK and where you were prior to the sip?
I had a relapse after 8 years and I planned it....and wanted a 6 pack....that was a relapse...and I thought I would be ok...after ONE NIGHT....One night turned into 6 years because once the alcohol was back in my body so was the obsession.
The only thing I do wonder thou...is has this set off a new obsession or are you OK and where you were prior to the sip?
I had a relapse after 8 years and I planned it....and wanted a 6 pack....that was a relapse...and I thought I would be ok...after ONE NIGHT....One night turned into 6 years because once the alcohol was back in my body so was the obsession.
Member
Join Date: May 2019
Location: UK
Posts: 3,937
No way is this a relapse 😀
I sometimes eat desserts containing alcohol and use wine or cider in cooking (which doesn’t get rid of all the alcohol we established on an earlier thread). But like you, I’m not opening a bottle of wine or beer with the intention of drinking it. OK, if I had several portions of tiramisu a day and a round of Mexican coffees every night, that would be pushing it, but the small amount of alcohol you unintentionally drank doesn’t matter in the slightest.
Fair play to you for sending it back. I’m not sure what if have done. Hopefully the same.
I sometimes eat desserts containing alcohol and use wine or cider in cooking (which doesn’t get rid of all the alcohol we established on an earlier thread). But like you, I’m not opening a bottle of wine or beer with the intention of drinking it. OK, if I had several portions of tiramisu a day and a round of Mexican coffees every night, that would be pushing it, but the small amount of alcohol you unintentionally drank doesn’t matter in the slightest.
Fair play to you for sending it back. I’m not sure what if have done. Hopefully the same.
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Midwest
Posts: 4,860
Originally Posted by Misssy2 
I hope your not considering this a relapse? That would be crazy...You didn't overindulge..it was an accident on your part....Congratulations on 6 years!
The only thing I do wonder thou...is has this set off a new obsession or are you OK and where you were prior to the sip?
.
The only thing I do wonder thou...is has this set off a new obsession or are you OK and where you were prior to the sip?
.
I'm fine. I felt very solid in my recovery before the sip and after. But I did want to share about those few seconds of wavering as a lesson learned about our AVs. Mine had been quiet for so long I thought it might have gone away. Nope.
saoutchik
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: London
Posts: 16,199
Great post, there are many alcohol based drinks (and foods) out there that are disguised as something else. Recently, on another thread someone mentioned that some Kombucha drinks contain alcohol (not much admittedly) At the time I was unaware of this and had drunk a few, fortunately, when I finally read the lable the ones I drank did not contain any. Labelling of foodstuffs in general is poor in the UK, it pays to be on the ball.
Have a good flight home.
Have a good flight home.
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Midwest
Posts: 4,860
Thanks, Sao. I'm home.
This actually happened a little over a week ago but I've not had time to properly share. It felt like there were at least a couple valuable lessons that hopefully can be of help to others.
This actually happened a little over a week ago but I've not had time to properly share. It felt like there were at least a couple valuable lessons that hopefully can be of help to others.
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Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Adelaide, Australia
Posts: 28,658
In my small Uni art class (9 of us), upon hearing me share how I got my burns (booze-blackout-ciggie) which is obvious from a burns glove I need to wear, a young lady studied me for a while and asked me if I knew Bill. (As in Bill W- one of the founders of AA and author of 'the big book'). When I made it obvious I did- she said she had something to show me- her 11 month sobriety coin.
I bought vanilla essence to put into coffee at home, but was suspicious because it tasted too good- I had not read it is 40% alcohol. Tipped it out and only buy stuff like that now on reading the ingredients on the back label.
Great post.
I bought vanilla essence to put into coffee at home, but was suspicious because it tasted too good- I had not read it is 40% alcohol. Tipped it out and only buy stuff like that now on reading the ingredients on the back label.
Great post.
Member
Join Date: Sep 2019
Posts: 45
Originally Posted by Venecia
I spent the week before last on business in Philadelphia. With a bit of time to kill before I had to head to the airport, I stopped in a lovely restaurant to get something yummy. Glanced at the menu, without my reading glasses, while checking emails at the same time. Settled on banana bread pudding and ... Mexican coffee.
My order arrived. The coffee is lusciously topped with whipped cream and cinnamon -- yum! Then I take a drink. What's that? Another sip. Oh yeah. That's whiskey. Mexican coffee is Irish coffee with cinnamon.
What I learned: Pay attention and if you need reading glasses, for God's sake, wear them. Over the years, I'd read of others getting blindsided but figured it could never happen to me. Until it did.
So there I am. Alone in a Philadelphia restaurant, with just an hour before I need to catch a Lyft. No one knows me. What the hell, right? No one will know.
What I learned: Everything you've read or heard about the AV is true. Cunning and patient. Six years sober, and for a few seconds, I'm thinking I could drink just this once.
Cunning and patient. But I deserve better.
I motioned the waitress over. With a sheepish apology, I said I would like to get regular coffee instead. Then, almost as a footnote: "I'm in recovery. I'm sure this is a lovely Mexican coffee but I can't have it."
The waitress smiled and said: "I'm in recovery, too! Two and a half years. Tomorrow is my birthday and it'll be my third sober." Before I left the restaurant we hugged and wished each other the best.
Heading back to my hotel, my route took me through Penn's Landing on the Delaware River. There, people were setting up for Philly's annual recovery walk, where tens of thousands of people participate the next day. The honor guard, folks with 10 years or more of sobriety, lead the walk. They're my heroes.
You can fill stadium upon stadium with those of us in recovery. None of us got to where we are with a golden ticket -- just hard work, starting from a rough place.
We're everywhere. You often don't know it. Sometimes you do. Maybe someone serving you coffee. You can be part of it, too.
My order arrived. The coffee is lusciously topped with whipped cream and cinnamon -- yum! Then I take a drink. What's that? Another sip. Oh yeah. That's whiskey. Mexican coffee is Irish coffee with cinnamon.
What I learned: Pay attention and if you need reading glasses, for God's sake, wear them. Over the years, I'd read of others getting blindsided but figured it could never happen to me. Until it did.
So there I am. Alone in a Philadelphia restaurant, with just an hour before I need to catch a Lyft. No one knows me. What the hell, right? No one will know.
What I learned: Everything you've read or heard about the AV is true. Cunning and patient. Six years sober, and for a few seconds, I'm thinking I could drink just this once.
Cunning and patient. But I deserve better.
I motioned the waitress over. With a sheepish apology, I said I would like to get regular coffee instead. Then, almost as a footnote: "I'm in recovery. I'm sure this is a lovely Mexican coffee but I can't have it."
The waitress smiled and said: "I'm in recovery, too! Two and a half years. Tomorrow is my birthday and it'll be my third sober." Before I left the restaurant we hugged and wished each other the best.
Heading back to my hotel, my route took me through Penn's Landing on the Delaware River. There, people were setting up for Philly's annual recovery walk, where tens of thousands of people participate the next day. The honor guard, folks with 10 years or more of sobriety, lead the walk. They're my heroes.
You can fill stadium upon stadium with those of us in recovery. None of us got to where we are with a golden ticket -- just hard work, starting from a rough place.
We're everywhere. You often don't know it. Sometimes you do. Maybe someone serving you coffee. You can be part of it, too.
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Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 8,674
Originally Posted by Venecia
Thanks, Missy, I appreciate your words of concern.
I'm fine. I felt very solid in my recovery before the sip and after. But I did want to share about those few seconds of wavering as a lesson learned about our AVs. Mine had been quiet for so long I thought it might have gone away. Nope.
I'm fine. I felt very solid in my recovery before the sip and after. But I did want to share about those few seconds of wavering as a lesson learned about our AVs. Mine had been quiet for so long I thought it might have gone away. Nope.
I'll suggest to anyone to do research ahead of time and decline foods that arrive with a sauce (steak, often, or if mushrooms cooked, or Bolognese sauce...) or if you don't trust the questions and answers you get from a chef or waiter.
My sponsor guided me thru event 1 - and almost exactly 2 yr later, when receiving the usual special treatment at a restaurant in the group I work for, I thought I detected a hint of wine in the risotto. I stopped eating it- but didn't freak out.
I now (3 yr almost 8 mo in) avoid things with alcohol, and have a pretty good knowledge of what does, and we never cook with any kind. Just how my husband (also in recovery) and I do at home- he is OK eating stuff in restaurants that might have alcohol.
I'm adding to the convo bc I think this is an important and sometimes overlooked issue in sobriety!! We recently had someone share on here that a relapse just happened that started with.....ingredients used in baking.
Cunning, baffling, powerful.
We do not need to live in fear- but i firmly believe that learning how to live as we are comfortable and know takes us further from a drink rather than closer to one is a norm we are well suited to set and keep.
Thanks for the thread!! And for sharing that you told the server why - I'm pretty adept and comfortable at telling people I am in recovery and indeed, learn how many others are, have a relative who is, or in some way connect to me - and most don't pass judgment (or care!) if they don't personally relate.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: West Tn
Posts: 3,043
I had something similar, and quite unnerving, happen to me ~15 years or so ago involving cough syrup.
I've posted about it before.
It had a successful ending and I learned from it.
Thanks for sharing this frightening event - it's instructive.
I've posted about it before.
It had a successful ending and I learned from it.
Thanks for sharing this frightening event - it's instructive.
Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 652
Originally Posted by Venecia
I motioned the waitress over. With a sheepish apology, I said I would like to get regular coffee instead. Then, almost as a footnote: "I'm in recovery. I'm sure this is a lovely Mexican coffee but I can't have it."
The waitress smiled and said: "I'm in recovery, too! Two and a half years. Tomorrow is my birthday and it'll be my third sober." Before I left the restaurant we hugged and wished each other the best.
And what an awesome strong recovery you have just calling in another coffee like that. I am in admiration.
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