I'm hungover today, quite by accident. I rarely have more than two or three drinks in a sitting. I love being buzzed, do not care for being drunk. It's just that I had a terrible, stressful week, and I was watching outdoor movies at a friend's last night and the warmth of the bourbon I brought deceived me into overindulgence.
Despite my hangover, it's been a busy day. I chaperoned a hiking trip with my daughters' Girl Scout troop, then had a birthday lunch with my mother-in-law. It's all for the best, since sitting on a couch with a hangover just reminds you that you have a hangover. It mostly faded in the outdoor air and joy of eating. When I got home I collapsed.
Sometimes a hangover is a good thing, though. By being knocked on my ass I made the healthy decision not to do any work for my job today. I'm not sure I can remember the last day I could say that, including the days I was in Cape Cod two weeks ago. I also know not to drink that much in one sitting for the foreseeable future. It takes the occasional hangover to remind me of that and keep me on the straight and narrow.
Perhaps it's my moralistic Catholic upbringing, but I tend to take hangovers as a kind of spiritual rebuke. I am reminded that I should take good care of myself, and that an excess of pleasure leads to a level of pain that makes that pleasure not worth the bother. I probably would not have been hungover twenty years ago with the same level of alcohol consumption as I had last night, so it's also a needed reminder that my aging body needs to be handled with better care than I have been giving it.
Tomorrow I am planning on taking a long hike, and enjoying the fresh air without a painful buzz in my head. I will appreciate that all the more after being hungover today.
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