[revwardoc]

Christmas 1962. I was 12 years old. The family had gathered at my Uncle Manny's house to celebrate the holiday. He was a great guy, full of fun. It was late in the evening and he was well on his way to producing a dandy hangover when he saw me drinking a ginger ale. He took a drink of it, emptying half the glass, told me it was a boring thing to drink, then poured in a generous portion of Seagram's 7, filling it back up. He also handed me the lastest issue of Playboy. The last thing I (vaguely) remember was my Uncle Al and my Dad carrying me out to the car. I was VERY glad to get home 'cause I staggered to the bathroom and vomited everything I had eaten since I was 5!

To paraphrase W.C. Fields, "It was my uncle who drove me to drink...and I never had the decency to thank him!"