Drive Me Home: When to Say When

I love to have fun. I am almost always down for a good time, and I am always open to spend quality time with friends. Sometimes, that means going to one of the most upscale bars in Oklahoma City, and having a bar tab that could have paid for most of your cable bill. On this particular evening, one of my professors, the amazingly talented and wonderful Dr. Terry Clark, was set to give the midnight toast at Ludivine OKC. Now, Clark is a funny guy. One of a kind, spunky, and filled with a wit that will burn you if you get too close. So, naturally, he compliments my personality well. When you get an invitation to have a drink with your friends (shoutout to Mason and Harold!) and to witness a college professor rapping, you don't turn it down. 

So, I pulled up the bar about 2.5 hours before midnight, and told the bar back Connor, that I wanted a drink and that I didn't care what he brought me. 3  rounds later, just before midnight, my other friend Justin came in to the bar. He immediately asked me if he needed to take me home. I said yes. That becomes more important later on in this story. 

Justin and I are close. He knows me pretty well, and after 4 years of friendship, I trust him to take care of me. He got me home safe, and even got up early this morning to take me back to my car and get breakfast with me. It is important to note that I was pretty obviously intoxicated. I knew it, my professors knew it, the bar back knew it, and my friends knew it. If I am too much when I am sober, I am even more of a handful drunk. But, I know where I stand. 

I don't drive when I have had too much.

I don't get behind the wheel of a car and endanger lives. I always have a DD, and the backup of buying an UBER if someone can't come get me. I believe in owning where you're at, and I think to be a truly authentic person, you must understand that sometimes, you're going to drink too much, too fast, and you need to have something to fall back on. People were concerned about me last night, and while I am a little embarrassed, I also know that it means that people care and don't want to see me get hurt or hurt others. Drinking and driving is serious, and while I am not necessarily the poster child for the Moral Compass that points due-north, I appreciate that my life or someone else's could have been ended. 

I urge you to always have a plan. I didn't go to the bar last night with the intention of turning up too hard. I didn't go with the intention of interacting with my peers a little intoxicated, I went to have a ton of fun with my friends. And I did, but fun can come at a cost. So please, make sure you're safe. Make sure you have a plan, and if you're looking for me, I will be the one at the end of the bar, nursing a Moscow Mule, or a whiskey neat.