A Reminder To Be Careful Out There!

[centralmaPH]

Be careful once again this year!!!! This could happen to you!!

Well... it took me a long time before I could write this piece, but here it goes... I was at GW for the Thursday Show in 2003. My buddy (JB virgin!) and I went golfing all day long... drinking about 8 Corona's each. We took separate cars to the show as he goes off in one direction, me to another. In any case, we wandered all around the GW parking lot with our red wagon full of beer, shrimp and munchies.

What a great day... having been to JB concerts for years at GW, it's always a thrill to spend quality time enjoying the people, food and festive experience of GW... and, it's always great to see it through a "virgin's" eyes. I usually go to both shows, Thursday being "Bring a virgin to GW night"AND Saturday being the "All my friends from every year night". Well, we really soaked it all in... and I was drunk. My friend and I had singles in Section 1 and 3 respectively. We lost each other during the rush to get in...

What a great show ( from what I can remember!). I left right after the 1st encore, still blitzed out of my mind. It is very true that alcohol makes you make some bad, bad decisions. I drove home got pulled over by the staties,flunked my field sobriety, blew a .15 on the breathalyzer, and was charged with DUI, 1st offense. The next day, I plead no contest, received a 45 day loss of license, fines and fees totalling over $2000, plus the humiliation of my name being posted in the newspaper (I am a teacher!)... all in all, not a great day. Oh, did I mention that my wife was not totally happy either...

So, what's the point? Well, I went back to GW on Saturday, attended another great show, totally sober, and since than have not had another drink. And, I want to say, that the show was tremendous without the alcohol. It was very interesting to see the crowd from the sober point of view.

Please... please ... please... if you are drinking and driving during this new JB concert season, remember the consequences of your actions...

[springparrot]

Congratulations on your life style change....I'm so glad you didn't hurt anyone or yourself while driving under the unfluence.

[sunseeker]

Thank you for sharing your story! It is MOST important that we all party with a purpose but ALWAYS have a DD ( and I'm not talking about the bra size of the yellow star girl in Frisco)

[Bfan53again]

Powerful story.......and good advice. Thanks for writing!

[nutmeg]

eeeyikes! That would be a good wake up call. Glad it turned out the way it did.

I haven't been drunk at a Buffett concert yet...and have thoroughly enjoyed all of them.

[dnw]

Thanks for sharing your story.

[sonofabeach]

That's why I never drink during the show. I sober up during that time and the natural high takes over.

[KruzinParrots]

Thanks for shaing your story. Very glad you survived it. Congratulations on learning from that experience and deciding not to let it happen again. We can all learn from this!!

[SchoolGirlHeart]

Thanks for sharing your story again. It's got to be tough to post it every year but I'm really glad you do. There's no such thing as too many reminders. See you at GW, I hope!

[drunkpirate66]

You were golfing when you could've been tailgating at Buffett? Hope you learned your lesson.

[pinacolada lover]

Thanks for sharing your story. I'm glad no one was hurt.

[carolinapiratechik]

Great reminder of how easy it is to get caught up in the festivities and everything is great until...Thanks for sharing.

[Bicycle Bill]

Congrats on learning your lesson after only one class. It took me three trips to the principal's office before I learned.

Plus a whole lot more times that fall under the "couldabeen" category......

-"BB"-