Some AA members like to say that if
you can't remember your last drunk, you haven't had
it!
True or not, the saying has meaning
to me. It reminds me of a night's drinking that I can't
remember--yet it is printed indelibly in my memory.
It was early in 1950, and very close
to the time when I finally landed in a state hospital
for a seven-week stay and started what has proved to
be continuous sobriety.
I was terribly hung over on the morning
I arrived at the front door of the Fifth Street Tavern
in my hometown in northeast Nebraska. But I had taken
only a few steps into the room when Eddie, the bartender,
rushed from behind the bar and blocked me.
He was furious, and for a moment I almost
thought that this stocky, well-muscled man was going
to hit me. As he vented his rage, I learned that I'd
been in there the night before, causing a terrible disturbance.
What made it worse was that the bar had been filled
that evening with a number of prominent people and a
party that included the U.S. Congressman representing
our district. Eddie told me angrily never to return.
I left the bar and slunk off down the
street, shamed and humiliated. I must have also heard
about the incident from my mother and stepfather, who
were Eddie's family friends. And I'm sure I brooded
about the incident for days before embarking on the
final drinking episodes that landed me in the state
hospital, which was on a hill overlooking our town.
Now here's the kicker: to this day,
I have no memory of being in the Fifth Street Tavern
that night or of anything I did or said. Like many other
things in my drinking years, it dropped down the memory
hole and has stayed there ever since.
But if I can't remember that shameful
night, I have never forgotten that it occurred. And
several things have served as useful triggers.
One memory trigger is the Fifth Street
bar itself. It is still there on the same corner in
my hometown and still has the same name. And following
Eddie's angry orders, I haven't set foot in it for more
than forty-eight years. I moved to Michigan that September,
but I returned home many times to visit my mother. And
I couldn't drive past that bar without remembering the
night I couldn't remember!
Another memory trigger is a sign on
Interstate Highway 80 in western Iowa indicating that
Minden, Iowa, is only a few miles south. Why Minden,
Iowa? Well, Eddie moved there a short time after kicking
me out of his bar and then died a few years later of
a sudden heart attack. My stepfather even went there
to help bring his body home. Seeing the Minden sign
reminds me again of Eddie and also gives me a slight
feeling of regret that I never saw him in sobriety to
sort of square things up.
And two other memory triggers involve
the name of the congressman who was in the bar that
night. His grave, marked by an imposing monument, is
in the cemetery where our family plot is located. When
I pass the monument, I think of that night of shame.
The local airport is also named for him, and flying
into the airport or driving past it also serve as reminders.
My wife is sometimes amused when these
triggers bring back a memory of something most people
would like to forget. I'm seventy-three now, and there
are a lot of things that don't come quickly to mind.
Perhaps I should also be glad that this particular night
of shame has always been hidden from view. But I do
think it's very important to remember that it happened--and
that AA has kept me from repeat episodes along the same
line.
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