We Are the Luckiest: The Surprising Magic of a Sober Life

by Laura McKowen

I discovered that the simple act of being willing to drink in high school put me in closer with the boys — Look, I’m a fun girl! Alcohol magically and swiftly rearranged me into whatever I hoped to be: a flirtatious, less self-conscious, outspoken, possibly even sexual version of Laura. And even though I was still too young to drink openly, I didn’t think anything of doing it — it seemed like an eventuality, anyway. My family is a family of drinkers. Our culture is a culture of drinkers. When I looked around me, I saw people drinking. I watched my parents interact with their friends, the people they dated, and later, their spouses, and alcohol was always just there, like milk in the fridge or soap in the shower. To me, it seemed like an inherent part of the adult picture of social interaction and intimacy.