D. Co to Wino

I had an addiction to Diet Coke in high school and college. I drank it morning, noon and night; I raped the Ellis vending machine of it every day to the dismay of many of my classmates; I converted every last one of my Flex Points into 12-packs of it at LaFortune; while my teammates were downing Gatorade and good old H2O after practice, intense workouts, and double-overtime games I turned to my trusty 20-ounce bottle of caffeinated brown fizz.

I remember one post-game celebration and one particular 20-ouncer well. As I took a swig and expressed my love for the classic cola to Kristen, Carol, my good friend and goalie, popped her head into the conversation, turned to me and said, "I wonder how much better you would be if you drank water?"

"What?! There is nothing, NOTHING out there that can quench my thirst the way a Diet Coke can. It is the only hydration I need. It is not a performance inhibitor. AND if I really wanted to be better, I would stop cheating during weight lifting, NOT drinking Diet Coke! Whatever."

I don't know if Carol was trying to tap into something deeper or not, but what she said hit me. I took it as a stab at the extreme habits I had developed as an ND lacrosse player - habits that were the product of pretty powerful group think sessions between Kristen and I. We developed an almost superstitious thread - a penetrating fear that if we broke our routine we would fail miserably.

• If we had conditioning at 6:00 AM and didn't wake up at 4:45 AM to get our bodies going, we'd puke while running gassers.
• If we had practice at 8:00 PM, and weren't opening up the dining hall at 4:30 PM so we could digest properly, we'd have cramps all practice long.
• If we ate certain foods that upset our stomachs we'd be too bloated to fit into our small gold kilts.
• If we didn't get 8 hours of sleep at night we'd be exhausted. (Okay, I was a little more ornery about this rule than Kristen.)   
• If we didn't go to the bathroom before practice or a game we were doomed.
• And of course, if we didn't stick to a Diet Coke regimen (mine more extreme than hers) like glue, we wouldn't be able to make it through the day.   

Although Carol's words helped redirect my beverage addiction, the rest of the do and don'ts; time tables and schedules has unfortunately carried over to my late 20-something stage of life. And ... Peter gets frustrated with my inability to budge. For instance, on Sunday he wanted to go hiking at Starved Rock, a State Park in Illinois with a series of canyons and waterfalls. But he wanted to leave first thing in the morning. (The whole 8 hours of sleep, get the body going, breakfast window, and bathroom break went through my head)

"Oooooh, yeah ... how about we leave at noon? I can't leave until I've had my cup of coffee, blogged about my Mini, gone running, and gone to Mass." 
(Eye roll)


After negotiations, we ended up leaving at 11:00 AM and because of the whole spring forward deal I didn't get to run. I had broken my routine (slightly) and even the idea of driving my new car 50 miles in the countryside couldn't counteract the fact that I might be "off" and crabby for the rest of the day.

Here's the thing though ... as we wound through the beautiful Illinois farmlands, as Peter made all my radio and satellite stations work, as he made me laugh and laugh, as we stopped for a bite to eat at McDonald's, I forgot all about my routine. We ended up hiking for more than two hours. We went up and down, over and under waterfalls, and out went my habitual Sunday. I didn't care that we were going to get home at 6:30 - that dinner would be leftovers - that I didn't do every little thing I like to do on Sundays. Because this was better! I was better.

So ... the real problem ....

My love affair with Diet Coke ended around the age of 25. I was overly dehydrated and decided to give water a chance. Carol was right, water made me better. At the age of 27 though, I developed another beverage addiction. Wine.

In an effort to be a good Catholic and break the wine ridden routine during Lent I decided to give up weekday wine for 40 days and nights. (Actually it's only like 15 days because it's just the weekdays.) But I have failed. I was successful on Thursday of last week .... and ... that's it. I have since reasoned my way out of it:
It's not like a drink a bottle a night - I have two glasses. And that's less than the 20-ounces of diet coke I used to drink 4 times a day. 
I'm better at blogging as a wino!
I'm a better cook as a wino! 
I am still able to get up at 5:30 AM every day as a wino! 
Wine is AMAZING!

Just as she did in college, I can see Carol popping her commentary into my blog here and saying "imagine how much better you would be without the wine?"

Hmm ... here's where I net out. There are some things worth breaking the routine over - things like getting up and out the door early to have a great day trip with Peter. There are some beverages that are worth breaking the routine over - I'm glad I don't drink soda anymore. There are other things, other beverages that are kind of essential. I mean when the time-management guru from Northwestern comes to speak to our staff and asks us to imagine our happy place and I imagine being in my big chair with a glass of wine, there's something there. I'm not giving up my happy place.

I decided to give up chocolate instead. 

Lo.