There’s an old saying amongst alcoholics in recovery: “Half measures avail us nothing.” Today, Mom and I were chatting, and she reminded me of something I said a few years ago, back when I was in high school. It was one of those unexpected moments when you make a smart-ass comment without thinking and it ends up revealing one of life’s great truths, like igniting a mixture of gunpowder and rubber cement because you think it might make a cool explosion and ending up with your eyebrows burnt off.
We were standing in the kitchen, and I was stirring pasta sauce. I put the spoon down on the stove and Mom said “Gabe, put the spoon on a plate. Half measures avail us nothing.”
“Mom, you’re the alcoholic,” I said. “Half measures avail you nothing; half measures avail me half.”
You probably won’t think that’s funny unless you’re an alcoholic in recovery, but it is. =-) By the way, on May 28th, Mom will celebrate her 12 years of continuous sobriety, one day at a time.