You’ve gone too far

I stopped in a small rural village. I was looking for a particular farm and I was not sure I could find it. I stopped at the general store to ask for directions.

The store was old — wooden floors, and rich in memories. The merchandise was mixed, well-ordered and well-tended. It felt welcoming, and I looked forward to my conversation with the storekeeper behind the counter. I was in the country, relaxed and easy.

“Hello! Sure is hot. Glad to offer you some cool air?” was the pleasant greeting from the old fellow behind the counter.

Wanting to honour the situation by purchasing something, I agreed with his observation about the heat and asked for a cold soda. As he was making my change, I asked, “do you know where the …. farm is?”

“Well, yes, I do know,” he replied. “And I suppose you want to know how to get there.”

“Yes, if you could.”

“Well, it’s easy, you continue down the road in the same direction you arrived from. You’ll go down a while. It’s on your right, about 10 minutes if you follow the speed limits, less if you don’t. It’s not well marked. So, watch for it with great care. And if you come to the corner where the old oak tree used to be, you have gone too far.”

Later, as I drove down the road, I reflected on the instructions. In particular, I recalled, “if you come to the corner where the old oak tree used to be, you have gone too far.” I laughed out loud. How would I recognize a corner where a tree “used to be?”

Then I thought, I used to give myself the same instructions when I drank.

I would think, as I had my first drink, “I will drink till I feel good. Then I will stop. I will watch for the turn off carefully because it’s not well marked. But don’t worry, if I miss the turn, I will know that I have gone too far if I see the corner where the old oak tree used to be.”

Whenever I drank, I missed that damn corner where the oak tree used to be.