I see drunk people.

Some time back, in what I inwardly refer to as my "roaring twenties", I actually went to night clubs and bars and drank alcohol. I'm not sure I ever got myself to the point of getting drunk. To my credit I've never had anyone do a blood alcohol content ( % ) test on me, therefore, I really can't be positive but I don't remember feeling out of control- save for the first time I ever drank.

With those days positively behind me I can feel assured that drinking at any point in your life is just not a great thing to be doing to your body and it's not particularly mature. I know... I know...lots of people drink and maybe they get away with it. I know what to call that- it's being an alcoholic. Really.

One aspect of drinking just cannot be refuted by reasonably intelligent people. It's this: alcohol is poison to our bodies. Period. I don't know what ever persuaded me to drink in the first place but I'm fairly certain there was a lot of coercion coming from someone. I don't remember.

I can now state unequivocally that I wish I'd never let a drop of the junk pass my lips. I can't give one good reason for drinking it in any form. It's caused me more heartache than just about any single thing I can think of right now and I've never seen any good come out of a drinking episode for any person I've known or myself. If I was in a position to advise young people on this issue I'd say, stay away from it if you can. If for some reason you cannot avoid it, drink as little of it as possible.

The recent news about a 38 year old mother of two extremely young children (2 and 4 years of age) getting drunk on a plane and knocking her kids around and then moving on to abusing the stewardess who tried to get her to calm down is appalling to me. This woman was drinking before the flight took off. Why was she served more alcohol on the plane? Only the stewardesses can answer that and it was poor judgment on their part to continue to serve alcohol when they should have had a way of doing a blood alcohol test before she entered the plane. I'm sure a lot of people would've been spared the anguish of the confrontation- including these two poor children- if they had such a procedure. I have been on planes- seated in coach and had to listen to the bellowing going on in First Class from drunk passengers many a time. Why have they not instituted some kind of screening for this legendary problem? Ask the Airlines when you book your flights. It's possible we can change things around for the better. I think flying is risky enough without having to deal with these types of issues. Didn't 911 prove that?

The Castle Lady serves up only hugs and kisses!