I don't know the last time you were at the bar or if you consider drinking to be a sin. It may be, but there is a special moment, maybe a few, when you close your tab and end your night at the bar so if you don't drink, I highly recommend you take up the habit if for only a night once in your lifetime. Why even Noah knew the that sorrows were washed away by the fermented fruit and certainly Jesus knew the value of a head full of wine. Maybe it is a sin to be drunk, but to have that last glass or more to the point, that last sip, that is a moment worth a lifetime of bacchanalian tendencies.
Now I don't advocate a drunken life. I have seen the horrors of an alcoholic home and know all to well the perils when the drink gets you by command. But that last sip, that last drink of the night when the tab is paid and the evening comes to a close, that is a moment which I do hope all will try and take advantage of at least once in their life, because that moment- while often for some and never to be had by others, is a moment where you may fully enjoy life.
As any drinker will tell you, last call is the thing of sadness. I'm convinced alcoholics dread the last call not because it is the end of the drink, but because it is the end of the night. After all, it is not the drink they are after but the affect they get from it. It is not the booze they are there for but the family that comes with it. The Bar is a place where you are never alone. Where the demons who come to call late at night will not beckon. Where the loneliest soul finds solace in the ready made friends of the night. Alcoholics don't drink to be drunk, they drink to kill what kills them- the loneliness.
And loneliness is the one thing missing at the bar. You may be down, you may be alone, you may be broke, tired, hungry, smelly or otherwise inconsolable. But you're never lonely. Lonliness comes when you lie in bed at home waiting for the love who will never come, the solace that will never arrive. You never see that at the bar because there is always your'e best friend standing across from the bar even just for a few hours- the bartender.
The Bartender is a powerful position. We ring the drinks, pour the next libation and otherwise control the world of the drinker. It is a position sought by many, held by few, but coveted by all. As the bartender you offer laughter, understanding, hope, advice and of course libations. It is the libation that so many think they are there for but it is the absence of lonliness we all go for.
The hope to meet that special person, the hope that ambivalence to the problems of the day will come, the hope that when we leave we will feel better than when we arrived. But in the end it is the solitude we wish to quelch- the singularity of our particular problem, we wish to squelch with the sipping of a few cocktails and the chance of a conversation from anyone. But it is the bartender who is the back stop when our anti social tendencies over come our will to not be alone. He or she is always there even when no one else will converse, when the time comes to order or pay.
And that my friends is why I say the last sip or last drink is the thing of happiness.
You have had your fill, you're ready to leave. You ask for the check or tab and the bartender is always ready to offer. You are either a full seat that needs to be refilled or the chance of the fattening of the tip. You are the most imporant person in the room to the most important person in the room. The Bartender.
If they are slow with there offering of the tab, they fear they may lose your gratuity. If they are too fast with the bill you may also forget to order the next round which may enhance the the bill. When the customer aims to end the night, they are the the most important person in the room, even more so than the Bartender. That is the secret of the bar that no one tells you at your 21rst birthday party.
In the moment when the bar tab comes to call. I like to linger. In fact I will call for my tab well before I have finished my drink. Maybe about half way through my last beverage, I will nod at the barkeep and say, "May I have my tab?" I do this as nonchalantly as I can muster, based on how much I have imbibed. Sometimes it comes with a slurrred "MAAAAAAAY I HAFFF MY TAAAAAAABBBB" and in those cases the game is up. The patron has worn his welcome when he gives cue that his time has come to the leave the bar. An overly drunk person may tip well, but their drunkeness is far too much of a liability to hope for any good nights sleep. The Bartender in that case welcomes your adieu as much as the sunrise that will welcome the end of a long day.
But when you still have your wits about you and the last drink is poured, it is my most enjoyed pleasure to call for the tab well in advance of its final drop.
The seat you have is valuable for sure, but that is not why it is valuable. It is for all intent and purposes yours to own til the last sip is sunk. And so I say when you have a few sips left, each one is the gold of kings because only then do you know comeplete soveriegnty.
Maybe that is a dramatic way of viewing it, but what drunk is not dramatic? The truth is none the less that your seat is yours till the the last drop is gone. And that my friend is freedom.
Your bill is paid, you owe no more. You have command of the few square inches you have been afforded at the bar and no one, not even the Bartender can ask you to leave those last few sips. They are bought and paid for and yours to enjoy. When the last dram is drunk and the time to leave comes, it is over. But in the meantime while you enjoy those last sips of enjoyment- that spot in a world of keep out and pay the tax, that spot is yours, bought and paid for, and no one can ask you to leave it behind.
Maybe it is a little victory. Maybe just a fleeting one. But in those last moments while the last drops remain you are in a state of grace by all measures. Your spot is yours, you have escaped the loneliness of life and all can be right in the world, if just for a few moments. Its a freedom I welcome all to enjoy and hope you understand that it is fleeting. But to take that moment and enjoy it as such, is a gift we all so wish to enjoy but so seldom get to encounter- that is unless your a Friend of Bill W- in which case my friend, you have as much appreciation of the freedom of those moments as I and I hope you will not begrudge the teatotalers a chance to share in your wisdome.
Now I don't advocate a drunken life. I have seen the horrors of an alcoholic home and know all to well the perils when the drink gets you by command. But that last sip, that last drink of the night when the tab is paid and the evening comes to a close, that is a moment which I do hope all will try and take advantage of at least once in their life, because that moment- while often for some and never to be had by others, is a moment where you may fully enjoy life.
As any drinker will tell you, last call is the thing of sadness. I'm convinced alcoholics dread the last call not because it is the end of the drink, but because it is the end of the night. After all, it is not the drink they are after but the affect they get from it. It is not the booze they are there for but the family that comes with it. The Bar is a place where you are never alone. Where the demons who come to call late at night will not beckon. Where the loneliest soul finds solace in the ready made friends of the night. Alcoholics don't drink to be drunk, they drink to kill what kills them- the loneliness.
And loneliness is the one thing missing at the bar. You may be down, you may be alone, you may be broke, tired, hungry, smelly or otherwise inconsolable. But you're never lonely. Lonliness comes when you lie in bed at home waiting for the love who will never come, the solace that will never arrive. You never see that at the bar because there is always your'e best friend standing across from the bar even just for a few hours- the bartender.
The Bartender is a powerful position. We ring the drinks, pour the next libation and otherwise control the world of the drinker. It is a position sought by many, held by few, but coveted by all. As the bartender you offer laughter, understanding, hope, advice and of course libations. It is the libation that so many think they are there for but it is the absence of lonliness we all go for.
The hope to meet that special person, the hope that ambivalence to the problems of the day will come, the hope that when we leave we will feel better than when we arrived. But in the end it is the solitude we wish to quelch- the singularity of our particular problem, we wish to squelch with the sipping of a few cocktails and the chance of a conversation from anyone. But it is the bartender who is the back stop when our anti social tendencies over come our will to not be alone. He or she is always there even when no one else will converse, when the time comes to order or pay.
And that my friends is why I say the last sip or last drink is the thing of happiness.
You have had your fill, you're ready to leave. You ask for the check or tab and the bartender is always ready to offer. You are either a full seat that needs to be refilled or the chance of the fattening of the tip. You are the most imporant person in the room to the most important person in the room. The Bartender.
If they are slow with there offering of the tab, they fear they may lose your gratuity. If they are too fast with the bill you may also forget to order the next round which may enhance the the bill. When the customer aims to end the night, they are the the most important person in the room, even more so than the Bartender. That is the secret of the bar that no one tells you at your 21rst birthday party.
In the moment when the bar tab comes to call. I like to linger. In fact I will call for my tab well before I have finished my drink. Maybe about half way through my last beverage, I will nod at the barkeep and say, "May I have my tab?" I do this as nonchalantly as I can muster, based on how much I have imbibed. Sometimes it comes with a slurrred "MAAAAAAAY I HAFFF MY TAAAAAAABBBB" and in those cases the game is up. The patron has worn his welcome when he gives cue that his time has come to the leave the bar. An overly drunk person may tip well, but their drunkeness is far too much of a liability to hope for any good nights sleep. The Bartender in that case welcomes your adieu as much as the sunrise that will welcome the end of a long day.
But when you still have your wits about you and the last drink is poured, it is my most enjoyed pleasure to call for the tab well in advance of its final drop.
The seat you have is valuable for sure, but that is not why it is valuable. It is for all intent and purposes yours to own til the last sip is sunk. And so I say when you have a few sips left, each one is the gold of kings because only then do you know comeplete soveriegnty.
Maybe that is a dramatic way of viewing it, but what drunk is not dramatic? The truth is none the less that your seat is yours till the the last drop is gone. And that my friend is freedom.
Your bill is paid, you owe no more. You have command of the few square inches you have been afforded at the bar and no one, not even the Bartender can ask you to leave those last few sips. They are bought and paid for and yours to enjoy. When the last dram is drunk and the time to leave comes, it is over. But in the meantime while you enjoy those last sips of enjoyment- that spot in a world of keep out and pay the tax, that spot is yours, bought and paid for, and no one can ask you to leave it behind.
Maybe it is a little victory. Maybe just a fleeting one. But in those last moments while the last drops remain you are in a state of grace by all measures. Your spot is yours, you have escaped the loneliness of life and all can be right in the world, if just for a few moments. Its a freedom I welcome all to enjoy and hope you understand that it is fleeting. But to take that moment and enjoy it as such, is a gift we all so wish to enjoy but so seldom get to encounter- that is unless your a Friend of Bill W- in which case my friend, you have as much appreciation of the freedom of those moments as I and I hope you will not begrudge the teatotalers a chance to share in your wisdome.
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