Maggie, at From Cave Walls, and Lauren, at LSS Attitude of Gratitude, alternate hosting Throwback Thursday. The idea of the prompt is for them to give us a topic and for us to write a post in which we share our own memories or experiences about the given topic. This week, Lauren wants us to “think back to those teen years (and later) to respond to today’s topic, which is “Suds, Buds, and Vino.”

Here are Lauren’s questions.

1. Did you grow up in a family that had beer or wine at family meals? Were either beverages part of your parent’s “relaxation” time?

2. Was wine consumed as part of religious or family celebrations? If so, when?

In answer to #1 and #2, my father kept a bottle of Southern Comfort, a whiskey-flavored liqueur, and a bottle of Slivovitz schnapps, a plum brandy, in the dining room cabinet, but he rarely imbibed. There was no beer in our house and wine was reserved for special occasions, like family get togethers.

3. Were you allowed to have a “sip” of the adult beverages?

I wasn’t allowed to, but I would occasionally sneak a sip when no one was paying attention.

4. When you were a teenager did it bother you that your parents had one set of behaviors, yet you were expected to have another?

Not with respect to drinking at home, as that was a relative rarity, anyway.

5. When you were in high school, did you or your friends drink alcohol? If you were underaged, how did you acquire the booze?

Oh yes. We’d find some older person who would purchase beer or booze for us for a slight fee.

6. Were you offered marijuana or other drugs while in high school? If you chose to partake, did it get you into trouble, or were you never caught?

I didn’t try marijuana until I was a junior in college and probably had it only two or three times before I graduated. I was never caught nor did I ever get in trouble (probably because I was never caught).

7. Did you ever get too drunk or too high to function? How did your body react to that?

Mostly it was too drunk and I’d end up spending the night with my arms wrapped around the porcelain goddess and suffering from a severe hangover the next day.

8. Have your opinions about taking drugs and drinking alcohol changed over time? Are you more conservative or more liberal than you were in your youth?

I don’t drink much alcohol anymore and while I did experiment with LSD, Quaaludes, mescaline, and I smoked a lot of grass in my younger days, I never did heroin or cocaine. These days I may consume a cannabis-infused edible (a gummy or marshmallow) every once in a while, I mostly neither drink much nor get high from marijuana anymore.

9. If applicable, did you raise your children with the same beliefs that you grew up with?

Pretty much, but my daughter and her fiancé are into artisan beers and will smoke pot or take edibles periodically. Because my son is a parent of very young kids now, he doesn’t drink or do any drugs at all.

10. If you had any input over alcohol or marijuana laws would you change them?

I would make marijuana legal throughout the country for those adults (over 18) who wish to use it. It shouldn’t be a crime to use marijuana if it’s not a crime to drink alcoholic beverages.