The bus snaked its way silently through the hills as I sat anxiously in my seat not knowing what lay ahead for me. This was a very unfamiliar trajectory for my life. But the journey was bearable in some way, partly because I was still tipsy from last night's stash. I had looked intently at that bottle of gin one last time that morning before I packed for my journey to the land of the unknown, slapped its bottom with a lot of nostalgia as was a customary ritual, 'blessed it' and kissed it goodbye as I drained its last contents into my expectant and salivating mouth. Our relationship had become toxic and I had to end it! Nobody ever tells you the whole truth when you take your first sip of alcohol. It feels good but never promises eternal bliss. It lubricates happy times but does not sustain joy. It emboldens the timid but most certainly the aftermath of liquid courage is a train-wreck of choices and decisions which are regrettable in every way. Relational turmoil, bodily ha