I had another wedding this past weekend. A friend of a friend was getting hitched, so I got to tag along as a date. It was a simple city hall wedding, but lots of thier friends and family flew in for the dinner and reception afterwards which was being built up as the biggest party in Brooklyn.
These friends are all in the bar and restaurant industry. Some are wine and liquor distributors, others are bar owners and managers, and others are bartenders and waiters... so the party had all the elements that make for a successfully good time, all purchased at cost.
I had a great time meeting everyone and dancing like a fool, and eating and drinking at the open bar... but as the night progressed and the parents and children began to leave, and as the tipsy began to become drunk, the party started to take a turn...
I'm not a novice, and I knew that there would be the predictable amount of drugs on the scene, but I could almost pin point the moment that I noticed the guests were no longer partying for fun, and instead partying to keep on partying. This is a familiar scene from my past. My crazy college years, my experiences in the bar culture, and I've seen the highs, I've felt the lows, I've seen some of my closest friends and loved ones destroy their careers, lives, relationships and health due to drugs, and this is a lifestyle that I keep myself very distant from now.
I don't judge. I don't preach. I don't partake in the hypocrisy of 'do as I say and not as I did'. But before the clock struck twelve, I found my date and explained that I had to go. I told him to stay and have a fun time, it was his boy's wedding, but I just was no longer comfortable there. He understood. We exchanged kisses and goodbyes, and I left.
I left the wedding, I left the party, I left the drugs.
I never looked back.
I never even wanted to.
It's been a long road. But its over now. I've never been more relieved.
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