It started innocently enough. I don’t remember my first drink. But over time, the Dr. Pepper took control. Those 23 flavors blended to create that sweet concoction that helped me hang on. In fact, other liquids rarely made it past my lips. I estimate I was doing around a 6 pack a day on average, depending on my activity and stress level. Yes, I was a fully devoted Pepper. I’m almost positive one of those 23 ingredients must have been a drug similar in potency to cocaine. It was the first thing I’d go for in the morning and the last thing I’d have before bed.
The funny thing is, the caffiene seemed to have no adverse affect on my ability to sleep. I was also never hungry. I was always full on DP. I hated it when I would travel outside of Texas where it’s so much harder to find. In fact, it was unthinkable to me that it wasn’t found everywhere, water fountains included.
I had tried to quit many times, but with little success. I decided to stop thinking of it as a reward, and instead consider it the enemy. You might say, why not just drink diet DP? I would almost rather drink anything else.
I had my last drink last year, December 31, 2006. Okay, there was the time a few weeks ago at the movies when I had the Mr. Pibb, but that’s hardly the same. It’s been 108 days, 21 hours and 9 minutes since my last drink. But who’s counting?