Going Through the Gate at 48

 Actually I think I was 47, but that didn't rhyme.  Sure, I smoked weed back in my twenties, but I never really enjoyed it.  Alcohol was my drug of choice then.

For several reasons, none of which will be talked about here, I quit drinking altogether.  I was 25.  Notwithstanding the fact that I'd already consumed enough alcohol since the age of 14 to last two lifetimes.  Quit smoking, too.  Cold turkey.  I mean, not entirely, probably.  I'm sure I replaced those addictions with something.  Thinking back, I ate a whole lot more then.  Eating is another one of those things that I love to do, which will most likely become the topic of a future entry.  I digress.

Cue next twenty some years, minimal drinking or smoking.  Exact opposite, actually, trying to live a life without the influence of drugs and alcohol.  Becoming a mother changes a person.  Protective instincts are off the charts, danger everywhere.  Including in your own home.  Once again, I digress.

I then found myself in my late 40's, the work of motherhood mostly successfully done (I say mostly because a) let's be real here, I was a terrible mother at times, and 2) I don't actually think it's ever done, contrary to what my child says).  I had a freedom I hadn't had in a long time, the freedom to make a choice based solely on what I wanted, where the impact of that choice wouldn't fatally alter the life of a loved one.  

Not surprisingly, I went back to my drug of choice, the one that worked so (insert sarcastic tone here) 'well' in my twenties.  Turns out I'd become a lightweight.  Either alcohol was much stronger now or, even though physically I was bigger, my tolerance had gone way down.  While I'd like to believe the former, we all know it's because I'd become delicate.  No problem, the hangovers were way worse too, I certainly wouldn't miss those.

My country being on the verge of Cannabis legalization, I decided I'd give it another go.  Off we went to the vape store, to learn all about something we'd never really thought about before.  Spent way too much money, buying something we really had no idea how to use.  Guess we must have figured it out, though.

Today, three or four years later, I consume cannabis daily.  Mostly by smoking joints, sometimes vaping or edibles.  I have run the gamut of emotion on how I feel about the fact that I am now, officially, a 'pothead'. 

They say that marijuana is a gateway drug.  Stay tuned to find out!