Champagne Anyone?
As I write this on New Year’s Eve, I know full well that a massive swath of tonight’s revelers will be nursing hangovers tomorrow morning. I will not be one of them. It’s not that I don’t like ringing in the new year. I enjoy a good New Year’s Eve celebration as much as the next person. It’s just that the drink of choice on this occasion tends to be champagne, and as much as we love champagne, one must be careful not to over indulge. If you choose to ignore this warning, you will pay a heavy price because, with my sincerest apologies to the champagne industry, there’s nothing on the face of this earth that will give you a more miserable hangover.
How do I know this? The same way everyone else who is nodding their heads right now would know. It’s happened to me. I’m thinking back, far back, to an experience I had long, long ago when the thought of spending New Year’s Eve drinking champagne was very appealing. On the night in question, I had gotten myself all dressed up and headed out with a few friends to a local night spot. We were all having a great time and, I might add, behaving ourselves pretty well. Then around 11:50 pm one of the guys in the group suddenly appeared with a full bottle of champagne so that we could toast the new year properly. One of the other girls and I thought that this was a marvelous idea, and that is what we did. The three of us raised a glass of bubbly at the stroke of midnight and then proceeded to polish off the bottle over the next half hour or so. We had a driver, and at the end of the evening we all safely made our way home, and I was in bed shortly after 1am.
Upon waking the next morning, I was immediately aware of a thirst that defies all description. I don’t believe that I could have been any thirstier if I had just hiked 20 miles through the Sahara Desert with nothing to drink. I headed straight for the kitchen, grabbed the largest glass in the cupboard, filled it with water, guzzled of the entire contents, and repeated the process. I was then struck with a queasiness that hung on for the rest of the day.
I learned my lesson, and it stuck. I will begin 2022 feeling healthy and fully hydrated. I’m taking in a movie and dinner on New Year’s Eve, but no partying and no champagne for me. That’s the plan, I think, most likely, maybe – well maybe just one glass, just one, only one, just the one. Couldn’t hurt, right?