Seeing the Sober Side of Missoula

By HonkeyCat, 2-25-09

“You want to go to Al’s and Vick’s?”
“Eh, I don’t know . . . ”
“My friends are having a party up the Rattlesnake, you want to go to that?”
“Well, I, I don’t think so.”
“Ok, well, do you want to go see a documentary at the film festival?”
“Yeah, sure, that sounds great.”

This past weekend I was refreshingly challenged by someone sober. A person I had known from the past, we first met up for coffee to rehash old times and catch up with new developments. He was cute, really cute. He had just moved back from Thailand, I’d just been there last spring. Our old buddy Artie had married that neurotic chick with a mini-spoon collection and Danny had not two, but three kids now.

As for my friend, he’d had his ups-and-downs, a few DUI’s here, a family drama there and finally he just said that he’d rather quit it altogether than try to control it.

Sounds simple, just don’t drink.

So we didn’t. Instead we went for a hike up the “L”, hit up a terrific documentary at the Big Sky Film Festival about a crazy muralist, had some goat cheese dip at the Old Post, looked in the windows at Worden’s (noticing all the fine 6th grade artwork I’d been missing) and went dancing at the Union Club.

Usually on any given Saturday night I would be hitting up the town a little harder, buying rounds or doing some pre-party action at my house with a 12-pack of Rainier. Missoula is very accommodating to the professional drinker, a place where it is not uncommon to be out-drank by a mother of three at a Griz tailgate. It is home to a number of fine breweries and a winery. The thick cloud of weather that covers our town four months out of the year is also a fairly good reason to tap the keg.

Skipping the booze for once was nice however, I remembered everything, there were no regrettable make-outs and I only spent about $15. I guess being sober is good for more than just the heart: Your waist and your wallet benefit as well. Sober dancing is quite another thing. That swing in your hips just doesn’t come quite as easy without the help of Jack or Jim.

I’ve heard that drinking on the first date can be detrimental to the future of relationship. Now I know that for me and my friends, withholding beer may indeed lead to the failure of any future we might have together, but I can see how this works on a first date. I didn’t realize how much I rely on a glass of wine to get me loosened up or how I use my beer drinking habits to get me through awkward moments.

Being sober meant being true. Maybe I wasn’t as gregarious as I usually am on a night out on the town, but I probably sounded like less of an idiot.

When some of my other friends called to tell us they were ordering a couple of pitchers at the Iron Horse, I could tell that my friend wanted me to go. I didn’t want him to feel guilty about holding me up, but even so, all the sobriety had gone to my head and suddenly I didn’t even feel like drinking anymore.

I do feel bad about all the Trout Slayer and Summer Honey this guy is missing out on, but I’m sure he’s not pining for a rotten hangover or wishing he’d slept in till noon. I’m not going to give up my alcohol forever, but a little break only means I’ll appreciate it even more when crack my next cold one.

The sober guy and I are going to hang out again sometime, we might hit up a 5k or go do some climbing. Two things best done without hitting the bottle.

Read more of the Taming of the Zoo blog at www.newwest.net/tamingthezoo