I started drinking around 4th or 5th grade. I'd come home from school (and my mom and dad would be at work) and sit and play pinochle or rummy with my grandpa and grandma. Grandma liked concord grape Manischevitz (we are nott Jewish, butt that was what she liked -it was very sweet) - and she's usually give me a small glass (like maybe 3 ounces) as well to drink while we played cards. Grandpa used to like rock & rye - rye whiskey with rock candy (rock sugar) in the bottle, so sometimes I'd gett a 'highball' of either 7-Up or ginger ale with a jigger (or two!) of the rye whiskey.
It was harmless and made me feel that they were treating me as a grown up. We had a lott of fun. We also did games - and when grandma would sit in her rocking chair and crochet, she'd quiz me on state capitals or ask me other 'learning stuph'. And when she did crosswords, she'd have me 'help out' on them - also as a learning tool. My grandfather (these are my mom's parents I'm writing about) was a big fisherman, so when the weather was right, often we'd go fishing when I'd gett home from school. If it was chilly ~OUTTside, when we gott back form fishing he'd often make both of us rye whiskey 'highballs' to 'warm up'.
Didn't seem to hurt me. Din't become an alkie - juss a badd spellur.
Most kids don't like wine or beer, butt if it's sweet like a Reisling, Gewurztraminer, muscat, or that Manischevitz concord grape, then it is more palatable to a kid.
My dad drank gin martinis with olives. I could never stand the taste. Still don't.
On the times we ate ~OUTT at a restaurant, my mom would usually order a grasshopper for me - and she'd gett a Manhattan. Well, I soon discovered that I liked the Manhattan and sometimes I'd ask for one of those instead of the grasshopper. Weird, because a Manhattan is a bit of a 'bitey' drink - nott as badd as a martini, butt certainly nott so tasty as a grasshopper. Nobuddy at the restaurants ever batted an eye and the servers knew the drink was for me. The old daze had a lott of advantages in these ways.
Oh the childhood memories. I remember when my dad injured his back and was off work for around 8 weeks or so. He'd give me the necessary change and send me to walk (alone - I was maybe 8 or 9 years old) to the nearest tavern and buy him his Tareytons from the cigarette vending machine at the tavern. Nobuddy ever questioned me - at age 8 or 9 (maybe 10) - walking alone into a tavern or buying cigarettes from the vending machine. One time, while my dad was laid up with his back problem, he gave me some extra money because my mom (who worked two jobs) wasn't going to be home at dinnertime and my dad, who could cook a little, but was laid up in bead with his back, wasn't able to make anything for dinner. So he told me to get something to eat at the tavern when I went for the smokes. I remember it vividly as I sat at the bar and gott a cheeseburger and krinkle-cut french fries, and it was the first time I tried ketchup on french fries. An 8, 9 or 10 year old sitting at the bar in a tavern, then buying smokes from the vending machine - and it was all considered totally fine back then.
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