"I’d say he is a borderline….

alcoholic."

Is this morning’s snippet...I overheard while passing two women talking at the corner of Wacker and Washington.

Ironically, this has been a recent topic of discussion on my good friend Hedy’s blog and it touched a cord within a lot of people.

I have alcoholism on both sides of my family as far back as I can see and I have witnessed the devastating effects it can have on generation-after-generation.

I have gone through the family programs and I know the signs of trouble...way before it becomes an issue.

But I still drink.

Cautiously and responsibly...well most of the time...

there was the incident when I had to learn the hard way that THREE martinis are way too much; and several times I have re-learned that my limit of beers should be four; and the whole giving out my checking deposit slip to a complete stranger at a bar...

Okay-okay...but those incidents are in the past, let's move on.

I try to keep the knowledge and lived-out-experience that it might become a problem in the forefront of my mind and I never, ever drink and drive.

So to hear this woman say “he might be a borderline alcoholic”...made me think that some people still don’t know how to define an alcoholic. Here are just two basic questions that might be asked:

Is drinking negatively impacting relationships with family and friends?

Is there an “all or nothing” mentality when it comes to drinking?

As I commented in Hedy’s blog...my father got sober and stayed sober until his last breath, giving our family 14 alcohol-free years...he soberly welcomed my son, Phillip, into this world just months after treatment; three years later, my daughter, was born and he lovingly grandfathered my children – something that would have been impossible had his drinking continued.

“Borderline”...when it comes to drinking...

what are you thinking?