Bourbon.

During the pandemic, I discovered in myself a curiosity and a love of  bourbon. For some of you, that might not seem like any big deal.  For me, I have spent much of my adult life deciding if I was an alcoholic or not. So, for me, bourbon is not just a decision about taste. It is a decision about, what is it for?

I have enjoyed drinking alcohol, in various forms and amounts, for the last forty years of my life, to be honest. Since I was a teenager, even a drinking age was not enough to keep me from trying out beers, shots, and various types of alcohol. Most recently in my life, wine has been the favorite.  

I was completely sober for two years and made an identity around that, too.

So, the decision for bourbon wasn’t about my dabbling with addiction, or trying to cope with a pandemic. Or even peer pressure.  It was plain, and simple, curiosity.

Curious, mostly, about what it would be like to have a curious relationship with spirits, without it being loaded with too much vs. not enough; or any other historic story that I had built in my life around alcohol.

The truth is, I am growing up. Not is years, which is unstoppable. But growing up in my awareness of what my life really means. Why it is that I do what I do.  Or, don’t. To have my steps, my choices, my breaths, more present, more conscious. 

So, bourbon is an experiment in presence. In taste. In fun and delight. In being here, and in not checking out.
Sometimes, bourbon is simply, bourbon.