My poison was vodka, scotch, bourbon. I was a happy drunk hiding tremendous pain.

I was an EXP/1K on my weekly flights so that meant "free" booze all the time. One of my most prophetic ones was being stuck in two airports on the tarmac while they serviced first class, and then stuck in airline clubs.

I built a sim city on my ERJ145 and it was pretty, and the flight attendant said oh my .... but see I had a VIP flag next to my name "and" I was a very nice guy and she was like shit you talk more sane and sober then most of the folks on this early bird.

Then I moved to Texas. Loved it ... beautiful, but then I have severe allergies, but given I spent so much time on the road, I had time to recover. Until a few days ago ... 5 years ago I stopped traveling.

Then I got to see and feel how allergic asthma happend, and let me tell you .. fuck.

I then noticed because this area of Texas with green pastures and lakes is actually a desert climate. I found I was losing 6-8lb every night .... (no joke) all water.

I got therapy and then hit the doctors hard and fought back and lost and what not. Now I fight again.

This was a 5 year plus arc and I started walking again, but see the kicker for me was realizing the booze as good as it was to me .. (ha) .. actually was a poison.

In my head once I stated why should I poison myself since fuck I can drink a bunch feel good for an hour and then have a hangover kick in due to dehyrdration, uh no ... pass.

Now ... I haver booze every so often but I do so for taste. One or two doubles and that is it, and I realize that this would normally put most people under, but let's say the tolerance is strong in this one.

My advice from my cheap seats of life is take it one day at a time, hold on and don't judge yourself. Pictures like this are a great reminder of where we came from.

Just like I hope to peel the weight back from the booze and food ... so I can be totally set free.