apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I'm not a temperest person. I drink when I am out for dinner sometimes. However, I began to look on drinking in the home from the perspective of an archiologist/architect/rhetorician. Built-ins were all the rage when I was growing up. I realized that someone else looking at our homes would interpret this the way we interpret niches in homes of ancient peoples we do not have a way to actually know: a small place of worship.

Then I began to see them for the problems they caused in the lives of friends and their parents (and now their own children). A lot of it was not pretty at all. The damage can run deep and across several generations. Why does alcohol need to be a status symbol in socializing? One of my children is adopted. The grief it caused the child who is now mine and her siblings is so huge we will all spend the rest of our lives trying to compensate for it.

If we are entertaining, we may have a few bottles of wine about to offer at dinner with a meal. The rest (for us) belongs somewhere outside our home...in public places that do not tolerate intoxication and abuse with ease and secrecy.

I do not worship alcohol. It is a pleasant part of a meal and an art onto itself in many ways. I do not want my children or any future people who view our lives to ever get the idea that our lives are in any way centered around it.

It's potential to harm is frightening. We should be wary of it in our homes. I do not want any furniture or architecture in my home to reflect it as a place deserving elevation in our lives.

Sounds severe, but try living with the pain of the damage before you discard this perspective.