Why I Still Keep Alcohol in the House

Friday. 7pm.

Friends about to walk in.

I check the fridge.

Beer. Wine. A bottle of mezcal someone gave me last summer.

All of it still there.

Some people assume it isn't. Some people ask.

It is.

I'm not the boring guy

I drink less now. A lot less.

But I never signed up to make Friday weird for everyone else.

I'm not running a dry household.

I'm not converting anyone.

I'm not the friend who makes you scan a menu twice to check if you can order what you actually want.

Nothing about me requires anything from you.

It's their Friday too

These are my people.

They worked all week. They want a beer. They want a glass of wine. They want the version of the night they've been picturing since Wednesday.

Who am I to change that?

Because I had a shift?

Because I figured something out for myself?

No.

The bottle is on the counter because they exist. Because their Friday is real too. Because I want them in my kitchen, not censoring themselves at the door.

I don't put my choice on anyone

My decision is mine.

Their drink is theirs.

I'll never make someone feel weird for doing what they came here to do.

I won't perform.

I won't side-eye the pour.

I won't make my choice the loudest thing in the room.

If you've ever been the one drinking at a table where the host made a thing of not drinking, you know exactly the energy I won't bring.

And sometimes, it's me

Bottle's already open.

Someone I like. A moment.

Half a glass.

That's the night. That's the whole thing.

And it works because nothing was forbidden.

The bottle was never the enemy. It was a thing on a shelf. Sometimes I pour. Most of the time I don't.

Why it actually works

I'm not too tempted.

I'm not too excessive.

The bottle on the shelf is a non-event.

That's the whole story.

It only works because I'm not in a fight with it. The day I put it in a fight is the day it wins.

So I keep it around. Quiet. Available. The boss of nothing.

Final word

I still keep alcohol in the house.

Not because I'm holding on. Not because I'm testing myself.

Because there's nothing in the house that needs to be a statement.

Because my friends drink and that's fine.

Because once in a while, I do too, and that's fine.

Because I'm not the boring guy.

I'm just a guy who decides.

SP.