We don’t call alcohol “liquid courage” for nothing. The term was typically used to signify the newfound physical courage that one gets when passed their limit. Only, there’s another courage that creeps in when you’re tipsy—the courage to call, text or email an ex you know you shouldn’t.
Recently, my sister-friends and I were at a debate party and the drinks were flowing freely from the open bar. Needless to say, the words “open” and “bar” in the same sentence rarely lead to anything but trouble. Towards the end of the night, my sister-friend shared that she’d spoken to a friend of her ex-husband, and that, in the friend’s opinion, he wanted her back. My sister-friend had been divorced for a little over two years and it was an amicable spilt. Although she was dating regularly, she hadn’t been fully satisfied with the guys she was seeing.
In her “courageous” state, my sister-friend decided that she would write her ex-husband a text message telling him that she still loved him. I quesioned her: “Are you sure you want to do that now, considering you’re a little ‘happy?'” She insisted that she was not as intoxicated as I thought and that she was sure of her actions. Everyone in the bar counseled her against pressing that send button and encouraged her to wait until the morning, but she didn’t.
Fast-forward to the next morning. I awoke to a text that read: “Why’d you let me do that? I sent [ex-husband] a text telling him I wanted him back.” I started laughing and then reminded her that I had begged her not to do it. The problem was, her ex-husband now had a live-in girlfriend and had moved on from the marriage. True, she would probably always love him, but I don’t think she really wanted him back. They’d divorced over some very fundamental issues and had done so intelligently.
Moreover, my sister-friend and her ex had been down the road of reconciliation before, and they both decided that being friends was the best route. Nonetheless, her ex-husband asked to meet her for lunch to discuss the text. She didn’t want to fully admit that it was a drunken text moment, so she obliged. At lunch, the ex-husband was a bit annoyed by the text and made it clear he had no intentions of getting back together. Secretly, my sister-friend was relieved because in her sober state she didn’t want to either. She was saved.
We’ve all done it. Whether it be the old boyfriend who you invite over to the one you ask back into your life, we have all sent a text, made a call or written an e-mail after drinking a little too much. This is why I make it a rule not to send any serious texts after the libations have started flowing. I can’t say I haven’t slipped up before, but my friends are good and usually stop me. So, the next time you start reaching for your phone or computer while you’re feeling good, don’t! There are too many perils to drunken texting. What’s your craziest drunk texting story?