I Wonder When I Became Such a Lightweight?

I never drank in high school.  I tasted beer once as a kid and thought it was disgusting.  None of my friends in high school drank.  I tried alcohol early in college but never got drunk.  Around age twenty, I made some new friends and became part of a different social scene.  Thus began my "drinking days".  Back in the good old days I used to be able to drink like a fish.  I mean, I could really put it away.  The first time I got truly intoxicated was with a good friend I trusted and he commented, "You have had a LOT to drink.  Are you sure you aren't drunk yet?"  It took nearly an entire bottle of tequila before I felt tipsy.  My name even went up in a fraternity house as an all-star drinker (my parents were so proud!).

The thing during college is that people are drinking to get drunk (for the most part).  I mostly enjoyed the buzz.  I still had to drink a lot to get there and, yes, I did enjoy more than a few nights of drunken debauchery.  It also helped that as a female I never had to buy alcohol for myself -- the boys were more than willing to share!

After college, I began a job where I traveled constantly.  I had two days off a month and I was strictly prohibited from drinking.  At all.  I mostly used those two days off to sleep.  The job was exhausting and excruciating and it was no wonder that three of the eight of us quit halfway through the assignment.  I like to think that we were the smart ones.  After I left that particular circle of hell, I joined the regular workforce.  I got an apartment.  I had no money.  Alcohol was something I could rarely afford.  I went out with my single girlfriends on occasion, but we only paid for one or two drinks for ourselves.  Luckily, I had attractive friends who managed to wrangle free drinks for all of us.  Still, where we live is not a place where cabs are used frequently and someone had to be the sober driver.  That usually ended up being me.  So, over time my tolerance for alcohol dwindled.

I met Superman and we would enjoy a glass of wine at dinner or a margarita here or there.  We rarely drank enough to get drunk.  I can say that has happened less than ten times for the two of us.  When we moved to the east coast, we visited many lovely wineries and I slowly built up my tolerance again.  We loved to share a bottle of wine on a Saturday night.  We would have a glass of wine with dinner or a beer or two while grilling out with friends.

Then I got pregnant.  Obviously, no drinking during that time.  Even if I could have had a drink, I was so sick that I could barely stomach crackers.  Forget a glass of wine.  *gag*  Then the exhaustion of a newborn meant that even a small glass of wine would have put me to sleep immediately.

I am telling you all of this to get to a point here, I promise.  The point is that I can get completely hammered from drinking just a little bit anymore.  For example, Superman and I celebrated my birthday by visiting one of our favorite restaurants.  We sat at the bar, watched basketball and had a few drinks.  I had a couple of beers and we shared a shot (I know that sounds lame, but Superman had to drive home and the mere idea of doing a shot makes my stomach turn).  By the time we stood up to leave, I was           d-r-u-n-k.  I was giggly and feeling fine.  By the time we made it home, I had mostly sobered up, but the point here is how in the world did I become such a lightweight?  I guess it was the passage of time and me getting old, but man, college me would be so disappointed.