Saturday, August 8, 2009

He didn't think I'd do it......but I did!

Ok, this is a story from our much younger years. The year was 1983. My husband was in the Navy and we went to many parties during those years. This party happened to be at a lake that was about 85 miles from where we lived. My husband liked Tequila and he and his buddies threw back quite a few that day. I was the designated driver. So...on the way home from the lake, my husband decided to be funny and pulled the emergency break up on me while I was going down the highway.....when I regained control of the car, I told him if he did that again I was going to kick him out of the car and he would have to walk home, we had 75 miles to go. All I could think about was what if he killed us by doing that, we had 2 small children at the time and that's what I was concerned about (the kids were at a babysitter that day) Well......he did it again and when I got control of the car this time, I pulled over, reached across him to open his door and said "get the "F" out of the car!" He did, bare foot, with no wallet, in shorts and a tank top.......I left and drove home to Idaho Falls. I figured he'd get a ride from someone else that had left the lake.

He had to hitch hike and first rode on a catamaran that was on a trailer, that guy only took him to Pocatello, then he hitched with a guy who drove a truck with chickens in it, my husband rode in the back with the chickens to Blackfoot. That guy tossed him a dime to make a call (phone calls were only 10 cents back then!). So my hubby called a friend to come and get him, our friend did and he was fine. I called our friend to make sure that my hubby was with him and made it to Idaho Falls alright. Our friend brought my hubby home the next morning. Hubby said he didn't think I would leave him out there, he thought I would just go down a couple of miles and then come back and get him.

A few years down the line we were stationed in California and went to a military Christmas party and of course, I was driving home and my husband was drunk. He started messing with me again and I said "I can pull over now and leave you on the side of the rode, or you can stop doing what you are doing" my hubby laid the seat back and I didn't hear a peep out of him the rest of the way home! He learned his lesson.......I follow through with what I say!!

Ya gotta teach them right from the get go that you're not going to put up with stuff like that, especially when you have children to think about!

Isn't it amazing we are still together?! I do love him very much and I don't know what I'd do without him and.......he hasn't had a drink in 15 years!

7 comments:

  1. Looks like your tough love worked! Good for you training him early on. :-)

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  2. This reminds me of a time when my hubby got drunk. He was acting stupid too. I had had enough. We were also in the car and he was holding our daughter on his lap (before child seats were used). She was 1 year old. In the process of him being an idiot he nearly threw our baby out the open window as we traveled 65 miles per hour on the highway.

    At that point I told him his mother had called and left a message earlier that she needed him to come to her house. Of course it was a lie. I promptly drove him to his mom's and told him I would wait while he went inside. Once the door closed I was out of there. I let him mother see him in his glorified condition and let her deal with him and I went home.

    Later that evening he found a ride and came home. Sober, more stupid and humble. Shortly after that he quit drinking and has never touched a drop since then. That was 32 years ago. You are right. We can not be enablers. We have to let them know it will not be tolerated EVER!

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  3. Good for you! It never ceases to amaze me, what men find funny!

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  4. Ha!!Ha!! I thought that was funny too!!!

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  5. My dad was an alcoholic. He was a "sleepy" drunk - - - - even when he was driving. The only time he got mad when drunk was when we would wake him up so we wouldn't run off the road when he was at the wheel! We definitely had some guardian angels when we were children.

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  6. Hey, I left an award for you on my blog...

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  7. Whoa! You are GOOD!

    Great story. I'd love to hear his version and how he explained his situation to others on his way home :-)

    xo

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