Fresh Air and Common Sense

Ever had one of those days?  Or Weeks?

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine, who shall remain nameless, had been having about as bad a few weeks as you can have.  He finally had reached his breaking point, and told his family he needed to go vomit.  In other words, he felt the need to drink so much that his brain and emotional state would reset.  When that happens, what do you do?  You call up a friend and you go camping.

He called me up and I promised to bring all of the random half-empty liquor bottles in my house. That amounted to a half a bottle of Wild Turkey American Honey, a half bottle of Thomas Jefferson’s Reserve Whiskey, and a couple shots worth of one of the new designer “moonshine” drinks, aptly called White Lightning.  He contributed a bottle of Naughty Girl wine (which I highly recommend).

We arrived around 2:00 and set up camp.  We played cards, and the first to fall was the Naughty Girl, followed quickly by the American Honey.  Soon, the mason jar with the last of the White Lightning joined the empties.  By 5:30pm, when my friend’s family joined us to play cards for a little while, he was pretty much demolished.  Knowing that one of us should be in control of themselves, I had cut myself off after two drinks.  When we went to the gate of the park to help them find the campsite, he even accomplished his stated goal of vomiting (mostly out of the car, thanks!).  He trundled off to his tent to rest (I think he knew he wouldn’t be good company) and I sat and played cards for about an hour with his wife and kids before they left.

So, it is 6:30, and now I am alone and hungry.  I had brought along two ribeyes from Bunzel’s Meat Market across the street from my work and a few baking potatoes, pre-foil-wrapped.  So, I put the steaks on the fire, along with a potato.  After a brief time of sizzling, the steak was ready and I had an awesome dinner, reading and listening to oldies while my friend slept.  Around 9:30-ish, he started stirring and asked about when his family left and whether or not I had eaten yet.   I informed him that his steak was waiting for him, but that it was cold.  He asked for his steak and a cup of water.

Imagine if you will, drinking on an empty stomach, feeling absolutely horrid with a rumbling stomach.  I gave him his cold steak and his cup of water, which he accepted gratefully.  He was laying in his tent on hi side, in a semi-fetal position, with his steak in a frying pan next to his head.  He would pick up his steak, bite a piece off and just chew, all the while talking about how it was the best steak he had ever had (I used Bunzel’s Trail Dust Seasoning).  After finishing his steak and water, he asked that if he came out of the tent and sat by the fire, would I sit up with him and drink coffee.  He even said that he felt like the steak had brought him back to life.

After assuring him that I would sit up at the fire with him, I put a cup of coffee on and he crawled his way out of his tent.  After giving him another cup of water (knowing that alcohol does most of its damage through dehydration) we stoked up the fire and sat and talked.  We remained there, talking and drinking coffee into the wee hours.

The next morning, we both awoke around 6:30 feeling quite good, which is only slightly miraculous seeing as we had been drinking coffee only 5 hours previously.  We enjoyed a hearty breakfast of steak and eggs, and played cards as we listened to A Way With Words on the radio. We eventually broke camp and went home feeling quite good.  He felt good because he had an opportunity to reboot his brain and emotions, and I felt good knowing that I had been there to help and support a friend.

After all, isn’t that what friends are for?