This is Annie Grace and you're listening to this naked mind podcast where without

judgment, pain or rules, we explore the role of alcohol in our lives and culture.

Hi, this is Annie Grace and welcome to this naked mind podcast. And today I'm here with

Laura McAllen and this is just the best. I mean Laura, we have not talked face to face

to face. We're probably like two years, more than two years. Yeah, it was when you had just

published this naked mind, I think. I think so. Yeah. Because we had you on home. Yeah. And we had

just started home. You were like one of our first few guests. So it's been a while. But I feel like I see

you or I mean, I see your stuff all the time. Yeah, same. And I I read your stuff all the time. I

mean, I don't know Laura just so everybody knows if you don't know Laura, she is probably one of the

most talented writers. Like I mean, hands down has a way to craft words that just reach the deepest

parts of you. And it's really beautiful. And like you're writing distance of beginning has been

incredible for me personally, but just also something that I just so readily share with just about

everybody. Thank you. So like I'd love to do, why don't we just like back way up for you? I'm sure you've

repeated a million times, but no, I haven't talked about my story in a long time. So I'm happy to do that. Yeah, no, I haven't.

So you know, dive in. Yeah. Okay. How do I usually do this? I know it's like, hmm. So my story, my drinking story.

Yeah, I started drinking. I grew up in a drinking family. Where drinking was just the thing that it wasn't always over

done, but it was just done all the time. You know, it was just alcohol just always kind of there and around and flowing. And I thought that's just what adults did.

And a lot, you know, I didn't even realize that my family was like more of a drinking family than others until I got married. And my husband was like, what?

Your family drinks a lot. And I didn't really know. I thought that's just because I think you drinkers hang out with drinkers, right? And so one that came over was just drinking. It was like the first thing you do when someone walks in the house is do you want to drink?

Yeah, no matter what time of day, it's just going to matter what time, no matter what day it is. And, and yeah, my ex, my ex has been now. He was like, your family drinks a lot. And I would go to his family's things.

And they would have some stuff there, but it was like, everyone, it was not the main attraction, you know.

So I started when I was like 16, just I drink a little bit in high school. It wasn't anything crazy. But I do remember a really pivotal point in my drinking when I was I graduated early. It said 17, not like advanced or anything. It was just I was an August baby.

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