Friday, June 18, 2004

Chapter 12...The rest of 1970…

Remember folks, I am an alcoholic, and this is the story of my life as an alcoholic. I am writing this as a recovery tool through the AA steps.
Step 4: Made a searching and fearless inventory of ourselves.
Step 5: Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
Now this isn’t really an accurate step 4 or 5, but it is getting the story and cobwebs out of me!!

The rest of 1970…I was working at the Seagull Café and still living at the duplex at Fort Casey 4 miles away. My roommate moved out and I was in the place by myself. It was an old two story duplex built early in the century used for officers housing. There were four duplexes, and one small house. Mine had a full basement and the first story had a big breakfast nook, and huge kitchen, and a huge living room. Upstairs had two big bedrooms and a bathroom with an old fashioned clawfoot bathtub. Nobody lived in the other side of my apartment, but the next building had the 4 single guys living there. Nobody else lived in the area except my old roommate that lived in a small house at the other end. It was in the country and a spooky atmosphere. Perfect for parties!! Barry got tired of me getting drunk and quit coming over. He still visited me at the Café but knew I was off and running in the party department and he didn’t want any part of that. He was afraid I would end up a drunk like my mother. Well I guess I did, huh? One of the guys next door asked me to go to Seattle with him, so I did. He took me to the restaurant on the Space Needle, and to a concert to see BB King Jr at the Paramount!! It was great!! He had a Volkswagen van. Perfect for 1970!! He took me out on a boat too. We were out in the bay and it started to get choppy, and I started to panic so we came back in. That is good, because I heard it was the captain’s boat from the base!!
I went to parties and dances in Oak Harbor, but mostly stayed in Coupeville for my serious drinking. I was driving home one night and saw a guy walking down the road in the dark. It was three miles from town and near where I lived. I stopped to give him a ride and he said he was going to visit a guy that lived out by me. I told him they were all out on a 2 month carrier quall. He was disappointed because he said he hitchhiked all the way from California to see his friend. I told him he could stay in my basement. (I could lock my door from it). I told him I could not afford to feed him because I ate at the Café where I worked and didn’t keep food in my house. He said he needed a job so I helped him find a job on one of the farms. He stayed with me for a few weeks then disappeared. I don’t know his name or where he came from. When the guys returned I told Mike from California that his friend came by to visit and told him who he was, and Mike had no idea who I was talking about!! WEIRD!! The guy appeared in the middle of the night, I housed him and got him a job then he disappeared. He never seemed a threat at all to me, but I guess I am a very lucky gal!! My guardian angels at work again!! They will all have grey hair by the time they are through with me.
I let my brother who is 6 ½ years younger than me have a New Years party at my house. He invited about 5 of his friends and I bought the beer & wine. A bunch of 15 year old guys drinking it up!! They were all puking in about an hour!! My bathroom, my kitchen sink, outside my door!! Dad came to pick up the boys the next morning and mentioned he liked the new “decorations” on my old Christmas tree that was out by my back porch. I looked and there were chunks of bologna hanging off it!! Yep puke there too!! I guess loganberry wine and beer mixed is not a good drunk for 15 year old boys that had bologna sandwiches for dinner!! HAHAHAHAHA
I moved in to a small two story duplex in Oak Harbor with two other gals. They worked cleaning houses, and I got a job at a bigger restaurant there.
Tomorrow, 1971.

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