Having fun with Gordy & John

Where shall I start ...

A group of friends decide at the last moment to go skiing. It all seemed so harmless. Before the era of cell phones and instant messages, Gordy call my house on a Saturday morning to see if I was interested in skiing @ Swain with him. He drove over and pick me up. We decided to check if John could come too. This was a typical pattern that had played out before. Gordy would swing by Wegmans and try to convince John to either skip work or leave early. John being a dedicated employee would resist the temptation (sometimes). So without John, we started on our way to Swain (Estimate: 1 hour drive leaving Greece @ noon.). While @ Wegmans, we picked up the essentials ... beer and off we went. Gordy's car was held together with duck tape and super glue, but it was still a car and ran and was available. I can't remember how many beers it takes to drive to Swain, but we started with a case and I think a six pack remained and somehow we didn't arrive until 7 pm. Part of the reason was an accident as we were coming off an on ramp and attempting to merge into the lane. We didn't see the car in the lane behind us and as we merged the cars hit together. When you had too many beers, you recollection of the sequence of events becomes somewhat blurred. We had just survived what could have been a very serious accident. The car was slightly damaged, but we were ok. So we continued on not really knowing where we were going, no map or sense of direction. Our previous experience with Swain was riding on a Trailways bus with the ski club. Gordy was pretty sure how to get there even without having a map. Somehow we finally got there, but we were not in the best shape to ski; shaken from the accident and loaded with beer. After waiting for Gordy to get on some equipment rentals on and skiing down the mountain a few times, it was already closing time. What happened to the day of skiing? Which trails did we ski down? How many times did we ski down the mountain? How many times did we fall or have trouble with the chair lift? What time did we eventually get home? I can tell you we drove toward the cities lights.

I am not saying that what we did was right. It was a stupid idea to drink and drive, but at the time it was not uncommon. The drinking age was 18 and we were of proper age. We were very lucky not to statistics that day. It is a stark reminder that high school kids looking to have a great time together really don't consider the possibility that something could happen to them. Even after the near miss in high school, I continued to believe that I could drive after drinking. I had the car and would often be the cab to off campus parties. I stop believing after partying one night (after hours) when turning too early for the drive to the dorm and instead driving up to the dorm thru a snow bank and across the snow covered lawn.

When is enough really enough ... while you are drinking the line between good judgement and poor decisions becomes blurred.