Carter Evans, Abstinence makes the young wiser! Season 2 Ep. 15

We are shakin' things up in Episode 15! Our youngest guest yet and the son of our co-host Kelly, Carter Evans joins us. Carter wanted to tell us why unlike most young people that have turned the legal drinking age,  he has made the decision to abstain from drinking alcohol. After experimenting with drinking in his younger teens and realizing it  wasn't something that agreed with him, Carter decided drinking didn't align with the life he wanted to live. Carter was such a pleasure,  very self-aware and wise beyond his years. Hearing this perspective from the younger generation was extremely refreshing!

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Transcript

Kelly: 0:03

welcome to the LAF life podcast, a lifestyle podcast based on living alcohol free and a booze soaked world. My name is Kelly Evans and together with my friends, Tracey Djordjevic, Mike Sutton and Lindsay Harik. We share uncensored. Unscripted real conversations about what our lives have been like since we ditched alcohol and how we got here by sharing our individual stories. We'll show you that there isn't just one way to do this, no matter where you are on your journey from sober, curious to years in recovery and everyone in between, you are welcome here, no judgment and a ton of support. Hey everybody. Welcome to the LAF Life Podcast, season two, episode 15. Tonight we're gonna shake things up a little bit. We do have a guest and thought it'd be really cool to get a perspective from the youngest person that we've ever had on the podcast. In fact, this person has never drank alcohol since he turned the drinking age.

Carter: 1:09

That's true. So this is my son Carter. Hello. Hi Carter.

Mike: 1:15

Hey Carter.

Tracey: 1:16

So nice to have.

Carter: 1:19

Thank you guys. Yeah. So why don't you tell us a little bit about, alcohol, experimenting with alcohol when you're a teenager, things like that. Yeah, so I've definitely experimented with alcohol before, I'd say 11 probably was my first time, really drinking with friends, but I just never had a good experience with it. I think we all know what it feels like to be drunk and just that, I don't know, I just feel gross. I do not get a good feeling from alcohol ever, and that's just all my experiences have ever been. And so that's just led me to not want to drink alcohol anymore.

Kelly: 1:57

So 11. So tell us about that. Yeah. So he's pretty young. Carter?

Carter: 2:03

Yeah. I grew up going to my cabin in the summers, my parents, and there's a lot of obviously parents drinking and everything. So kids being around that a lot. We got curious. So me and one of my friends who is a couple years older than me at the time We found some almost empty cans, some gross coolers.

Kelly: 2:24

And Palm. They palm. Remember those guys,

Carter: 2:27

We dumped them all together into one can and drank that, which is like so gross. I know. Oh. But yeah,

Mike: 2:36

that's called chichi. That's my first time drinking for sure. And did you get, Drunk or buzzed or did you feel anything from that? Definitely not, no. Just was the first time like trying alcohol, I think. just a headache from all the sugar in the Palm Bay. Just the

2:52

cherry

Kelly: 2:53

probably.

Tracey: 2:53

And when there's alcohol accessible, it's a lot easier when you're curious and young, right? Yeah. I know we all did that. Maybe not as young as 11, but the experimenting started probably in my house at about. there was always alcohol accessible and I know my house was definitely a place my friends came to try things out.

Kelly: 3:14

Yeah.

Carter: 3:15

Yeah. I always remember like the cabinet above the fridge was always like, had I mean we never had lots of alcohol in our house growing up. There was like two bottles up there and every once in a while I just go and, pour a little bit into a. Container and take it with me wherever I was going.

Kelly: 3:30

I blamed all that on your older brother. I'm gonna learn a lot on this episode, you guys. I always thought that was just Braden and who has admitted that to me too. But here we are on the podcast. Things are coming out. Yeah. Things are gonna come out. Wow. Juicy. Yeah. So did you fill it up with water? No, I didn't even try it, hide it. I just knew that you guys wouldn't notice. Oh, great.

Carter: 3:53

Yeah. And you never did.

Tracey: 3:54

Nope. So obviously this is when your mom and your dad were drinking. Yes. When your mom was still drinking. So do you think that your mom's experience has influenced you at all or you've made your own judgments based on your own experience?

Carter: 4:13

I think it's a mix of both. Obviously my mom's knowledge has helped me a lot with becoming. aware with what alcohol really does to people and the culture around it. Just seeing people my age, cause I'm 18 years old, everyone as soon as they turn 18 here, they're out clubbing, right? all everyone wants to do. And that's just so not been what I want to do at all. So like seeing other people doing that, it's like I just do not even get the desire or even understand why people really wanna do that. It's a mix of both things. Yeah.

Mike: 4:46

So you've been around parties and such, and seeing people pretty intoxicated, I'm sure. And maybe Yes. You were one of those people at one point in time and decided, oh, for sure this isn't for me. But did you and your mom ever have a conversation about did you come home drunk once maybe, and you had a conversation or anything like that?

Carter: 5:05

No, actually no. I was really good at, not like good at hiding it because I was honest with my parents, but I would just never come home drunk without my parents knowing. I'd usually Go somewhere and have a place to stay after, that kind of thing. Pretty responsible.

Kelly: 5:19

we've always said Carter is the most responsible person in our family.

Mike: 5:25

someone's gotta be. So compared to his older brother, he hardly he never really got in trouble for anything. But we also, Allowed our kids to have alcohol in front of us at a pretty young age 16. 16. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's status quo.

Tracey: 5:42

Yeah. Yeah. My mom always preferred if we were in our own house then she felt like she had control over it. She knew we were gonna experiment with it regardless, so might as well be under her roof where she could at least somewhat monitor it. Exactly

Kelly: 5:57

right. Yeah. Like you guys have heard me talk about me growing up. My parents just said, don't do. Yeah. And then of course I just went and did everything behind their back and I was doing all kinds of crazy stuff and I know my kids have too, done crazy stuff. But at least if there's open conversation, like I injured myself once and I should have gotten stitches when I was 16. Was that your leg, kel? Yeah. Yeah. Do you remember that? I do remember it. Actually, a friend of our mutual friend of ours brought it up to me when I was talking to her about just us doing the podcast. And she was like, oh yeah, I remember when Kelly split her leg open. Yes, I still have a big scar and the only reason why I didn't go and get stitches is because I was scared that my parents would find out that I was. at 16. So that's with our kids, we've always said, it doesn't matter. Call us whatever, we're not gonna

Tracey: 6:49

No. I think it's interesting. What do you think about the fact that I find that people like you, Kel, so your parents. didn't drink and didn't want you to drink, so you went to the other end of the extreme. I find the same sometimes with people that their parents are drinkers or alcoholics, they end up staying away from it, it really deters them from wanting to do it. Yeah. So it's interesting how it can influence people either way. Yeah, definitely. what do you guys think about that? And then there's people like myself who are around it, and then you become susceptible yourself to having an unhealthy relationship with it, right?

Kelly: 7:25

Yeah. I know lots of people, and maybe Carter feels this way too, but I know a lot of people will say I'm so aware of it because my mom had a problem or because my dad had a problem, and they still drink here and there, but they have a really heightened awareness and have a lot of control over it. what do you think of that? Yeah, that's, yeah, I feel that way. Definitely. Yeah. I think inevitably that helped me too. The fact that I was aware. what was going on in my own family. I think when my drinking became more regular, I definitely had a heightened awareness of it.

Carter: 7:58

For me, I don't think it was, sorry for me. Keep going. Keep going. I don't think it was my mom actually while she was drinking, it was definitely the transformation after I still think I was. Drinking even after she was sober.

Mike: 8:15

How long has it been since you had a drink, Carter?

Carter: 8:17

Graduation last year. I did have a couple drinks and that was last June, but I've been 18 for eight months now. And that's the drinking age? Yeah,

Mike: 8:27

in Manitoba. Back to the drinking. I was gonna say, I picked up on that yeah,

Kelly: 8:30

making that too, why is that such a rite of passage? I see that on my social media and stuff too. People in our age group obviously have, kids that are turning 18 or there, I know it's 19. And they always are posting a picture of them, having a drink with their kids. It's such a weird. Carter didn't care. And my oldest, actually, he does drink here and there, but he was excited to buy lottery tickets. He didn't even care about the alcohol. I love, but it's a weird, it's a weird thing. Hey, like culturally,

Mike: 8:58

it's like it's cultural. stigmatism that I think definitely became more heightened with social media, it's look at me or look at what we're doing. And it's the thumbs ups and the likes. If you're bored and you're at the cottage or the cabin or whatever with a bunch of families, and it's what's stopping you from making a split decision up? Everybody get a picture, pull up your drink. Yeah. And it's just click, bang, boom. Look at me. May 24, what did you do on May 24 weekend? The holidays built around numbers that associate themselves with alcohol. right? Yeah. It's insane how it's normalized. And I don't think that our parents generation, I know that my mom, or not so much my dad, but me and my mom was like, never. Hey, let's go out for a drink to celebrate your 19th birthday. I mean, That was no bloody way. No, I don't remember that at all. So where did it start or when did it start, I guess is the point. That's interesting point. Yeah. That's such a thing now. Yeah, it's, yeah. Going out for your first drink as soon as you turn 18. Everyone's posting about that. It's like you go out for the rest of the week when you turn 18 every single night. Why are we advertising almost every life event to the masses when there's, I don't know. It's, we talk about, Hey, this is, I lost my virginity. I had my first drink. I got my driver's license, I went to the casino. All these things. It's who really cares? No one really gives a shit. Totally. Yeah. Nobody cares. Yeah. Except the person. Posting it cares to look at me. Just give me some love, something. Love acknowledgement. It's sad. It really is. Yeah. It really is that we society's gone to this, and I'm not sitting here saying social media is a bad thing. There's a lot of good things about it, but in relation to what we're talking about, it's, I don't. I don't know.

Tracey: 10:47

I think though that going back to When did it start, Mike? Yeah. It started with our generation being more friends with our kids. Quite frankly, you mean you guys Like, is that bad? Like you and Kelly's me as parents? Yeah. Yeah. Our parents weren't her friends. That's why they weren't taking us out for drinks at 19. No. Our generation started that whole kind of dynamics and relationship with our children. Shame on you guys. Shame on you.

Kelly: 11:15

What do you think about that?

Carter: 11:17

I think, no, I think that's true.

Mike: 11:19

Do you think your parents were parents at the right time, Carter? Because he seemed very mature for your age, to be honest with you, so far

Kelly: 11:26

he's always been Like when he was two he was like 80

Mike: 11:30

It's good to ask him then. Yes. You have the awareness to know were my parents', parents when they needed to be parents for. were they friends at the right time? Do you know what I'm trying

Carter: 11:42

to say? Yes. Yeah, totally. Yeah. I definitely think I have that sort of relationship with both my parents, where I can be like a friend with them, but then I can also rely on them to be a parent. Of course. They're very stable parents.

Mike: 11:56

What about your friends? Have you noticed as an observer of going to a friend's house where you think holy. and you being 18, maybe not aware of it, but there's probably times where you think, boy, this person needs some discipline or some guidance. Oh yes, for sure. And they're not getting it, so did you ever observe that?

Carter: 12:16

Yeah, for sure. With my friends, I noticed more like what you guys were saying before, like my friends in this generation were more friendly with our parents, but. I do also notice that some of my friends maybe before Yeah. Yeah. Lacked some of that discipline growing up, and so now it's coming back to bite them so you can see the fallout. How, what does that look like? Yeah. Think about that for a second. Now, it's not to say that it's a bad thing to have that kind of dynamics with your kids, but I think it's hard to create a balance. There has to be a balance between the parenting and the relationship. I think it is great, and we've done a better job of having open relationships with our children. And that's important. And I think that's the thing. I think that's what we strive to do that was different than our parents, but some people do it more effectively some people take it to a different level where there isn't the boundaries of, or the respect or the discipline that is required in the actual parenting. Yeah. It's also like the boss employee mentality too. You gotta tie'em all together and you gotta do it on the.

Kelly: 13:25

And when you have multiple children, they all need to be parented differently. Which has been a really interesting part of parenting. Yeah. But like I said, Carter has been very, look at him. What Carter's been very easy to parent, I must say.

Carter: 13:43

I think, you always say this too, we all turned out so different. Very, I how you guys did that,

Kelly: 13:47

I think we just let you be who you were gonna be and For sure. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. I think, yes, as parents now we do a better job of that too, right? is really embracing who our kids are and Yeah. But yeah, it's hard to find that balance and And I think like I said, where it started was I think our generation started that. Not to say, trust me, my dad was a huge drinker and I think a part of the issues with my dad and the dynamics with us was, especially with my brothers, was they were like his drinking buddies. So there was a very young age that they were exposed. With my dad to drinking, and my dad absolutely was taking them to bars and drinking with them. So it did happen in my generation too. Just maybe not as often. And probably depending on who your parents were. Yeah.

Mike: 14:38

Oh, for sure. And what environment that you were raised in. right? Yeah, I only got to see my dad twice a month. And it was Friday night, pick up at the train station, right to the bar, and then back at the bar Saturday, and then back at the bar Sunday, and then back at the train station. Mind you, it wasn't like that every single time, but 80% of the time. And it was preoccupation with video games and. Other things that would allow him to be in his domain his is happy place, which is sad in theory when you think about it as a, an adult now there's probably more he could have done. He did the best as what he could and I'm not sitting here. He is gone now. He is been dead for a long time, but it's yeah, I think well, do you play Sports Carter? I'm not really a sports person. Okay. So your, one of your brothers plays football, right? Oh, yes. Yeah. So have you been to any of the games before? Yep. Yeah. So have you ever noticed the dads, the aunt, probably the moms too, but the dads that go and they've got the Yeti or something, and it's boy, buddy's going out to the parking lot to fill his yet. A lot. At hockey games and other sports, they're bringing it there and they're consuming it there while watching their kids play sports. Yeah, I don't know how many sports, but yeah, there's lots of things like trick-or-treating. Yeah. Disneyland. Yeah. Disney World, yeah, alcohol, like in my cup. That's the adult version of. people my age do is we sneak alcohol into everywhere Yeah. I remember in high school, people sneaking like hard alcohol in water bottles to school in class. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Kelly: 16:19

Crazy. So being in social situations and things like that, do you ever get any Oh, it's like pressure is the right word. Or do people question like, how come you're not drinking? Or why don't, why don't you drink?

Carter: 16:29

I just tell them I don't drink it. I doesn't sit well with my body, cause I, I have not had good reactions to alcohol ever.

Tracey: 16:37

What do you mean by not good reactions? Yeah, we want him a little more about that.

Carter: 16:42

One time I was, 16 years old. Summer after grade 10, I went camping with some of my friends and me and one of my friends split a bottle of something called Pink Whitney. I don't know. Oh yeah, if you know what that is, Its so disgusting. We almost finished that whole bottle between the two of us, and that is, God, I'm surprised. Something didn't happen to me. That was the only time I think I've blacked out in my life. Wow. I only remember, I was at Birds Hill and I remember stumbling around the campsite trying to get back from the bathroom with my friends. I remember falling into a tent. Were you. Oh, just like Sorry, that's coming. No. Yeah, so I was so very drunk. My friends put me to sleep in the tent and I puked all over myself Oh. And all my sleeping stuff. So the rest of the camping trip was really fun. Yeah, I've definitely seen Carter hungover. Yeah, for sure. And then just a little bit tipsy at bird River. With Cameron. Yeah. Yeah. If, but to you totally changed. You were not the thing is, if I'm in the right situation, I don't do well with being in crowded places. I think I have a little bit of maybe a social anxiety. That might have de developed over the pandemic. I just don't do well with crowded places and so drinking really does not help that. When I get into the right situation, if I'm with my mom and we're with family friends and someone's around the same age as me and they're drinking, who knows? Maybe I'll do it. You. I'm not all against it. It's just, yeah, I need to be in the right situation, the right time.

Tracey: 18:24

Hey Carter, I don't like crowds and I never have and it has nothing to do with Covid And I would say it's probably more related to a social anxiety thing, cuz I know for me it was especially if you're more introverted person. But yeah, I still to this day don't like crowds. Yeah. I didn't like them sober. I didn't like them drunk, and I just have never liked them.

Mike: 18:46

You're also observing people and you're listening to your inner voice. I don't like this energy that's going on here and Oh, yes. I don't want to be around it. Good for you. To be your age and be aware of that stuff. Because most people, the way they combat it is they go and drink or they go and yeah, do drugs or do something to take that edge off and then they go and put themselves in situations that they quite honestly don't want to be.

Carter: 19:15

Yeah. So good for you. Good for you. I definitely have done a lot of, as you said observing over the years, I've been to a lot of house parties where there is underage drinking and I'm usually the person who wouldn't drink as much or Yeah. So I'd be more aware than maybe some of my friends, I've done so. Drunk walk homes with my friends, and my friends are stumbling home and I have to help them. I'm always that designated person, right? who Yeah. Helps all the poor, drunk people Yeah. Its tiring. It gets tiring. and yeah. I don't wanna do that. And so that's why all these people now are my age. They have a place to go, which are bars and clubs. I don't want to go there and deal with those people Drunk people. Yeah. Drunk people those aren't the kind of people I wanna be around.

Mike: 20:00

So what are some of the things that you like to do to spend time outside of the everyday life at school or work or those types of.

Carter: 20:07

I love being outside. Honestly, anytime, I know I live in Winnipeg, the coldest place, so there's a bunch of months out of the year that I can't exactly enjoy outside. But when it's summer, I just, I try and go all the places I can to see all the things I can. I really want to travel in my life. I want to see lots of the world. Cool. And not like That's awesome. The type of traveling where you go and see cities or Disney World or whatever. I want to go to all the national parks and Hike mountains and stuff that's what I want to do. Awesome. That's awesome. Do you study that kind of stuff with school or is that just something new or? No, it's just something I'm passionate about. Cool. Yeah.

Kelly: 20:48

He grew up as a lake kid. Yeah, that definitely. And travel. We gave him the travel bug too. Yes. Yeah. I was blessed

Mike: 20:56

So you got anything on the schedule for the summer travel wise?

Carter: 21:00

Nothing yet actually. But maybe soon something might be in the works. Nice.

Tracey: 21:05

I was gonna say that it is smart of you to realize that you don't feel good when you drink and have that kind of awareness too, and then make the choice not to do it because of that. Because a lot of people would still drink in spite of that. Yeah. A hundred percent. Yeah. Smart of you to recognize that about yourself and then abstain. I was gonna ask have you been in situations where you feel like, I don't know what the word is or I'm lost for the word right now, but isolated because you're not doing what everybody else is doing or you're not partaking in the drinking

Carter: 21:39

Actually, yeah, for sure. There's nights where me and all my friends go and hang out at my friend's house and we all sleep over there because she has a big room and has two beds, so it means a lot of us can fit in there. all my friends want to go. clubbing and go out to the bars and go bar hopping, and I don't wanna do that. So I literally sit at home and don't go, but I'd rather do that than go out there.

Tracey: 22:03

So do you find that your circle of friends is changing or do you feel like you can see that happening?

Carter: 22:10

Actually, yes. A lot of my friends actually do have the. Mindset is me, which is great. A lot of my friends don't like drinking just as much as I do. So that definitely helps. I have a l small friend circle, and that's my, main support system. Yeah. That's all you need. Yeah. A few select people. As long as they're aligned with you, that's all you need. Yeah. And you've had some positive influences at work with some older area? Oh, for sure. Yeah. I work at a health food store. we sell supplements and vitamins too. So a big thing is us helping people find what they want. Cool. Natural healing kind of thing. And so I'm really interested in that too. I just like helping people in that way and I have coworkers that encourage me to pursue those things.

Tracey: 22:55

it sounds like you're really aligned with the things that you're passionate about. Yeah. Which is awesome. And all of those things are really healthy outlets, so that's really good.

Mike: 23:07

Yeah. Who is this young lad? I, it's isn't be awesome It's amazing. It's amazing. Yeah.

Tracey: 23:15

Yeah. It's so nice to hear that coming from a young person. It really is. it's refreshing. Yeah. He sounds like he's 30 for heaven's sakes though. I know. And he's always had that real self-awareness. So the fact and came from you And my kids get no pressure from me to not drink, like I definitely do talk. The risks and talk about, why are you doing this? Make sure you're not using it as an escape and all of that stuff. But he decides, they all decide what they wanna do, as all young people do. But there was no pressure from me to say don't drink. No, not at all. But yeah, he's always been this self-aware little bright light since day. Carter, how old were you when your mom stopped drinking? 13, 14 five years ago. 13. 13, yeah. 13. Yeah. So do you have a lot of memories of her drinking? Carter

Carter: 24:01

actually not times of her being visibly drunk, which was a thing we talked about a couple days ago. I don't, if my mom didn't tell me that she had an alcohol problem, I would've never known. I was just so at that time unaware of what was going on. But that's all you knew, right? You saw us, we didn't hide our drinking. That's true. But I wasn't like a. We didn't fight when we got Oh no. You think it wasn't like you're like a messy drunk person or something. You didn't see that. didn't see that side. Not when the kids were around anyways. Oh boy. No, because I know, I think my daughter would probably say the same as far as seeing me drunk, but what my daughter would probably tell you is she definitely recalls. There's always wine in the house and me always going to the wine. and always having to go to the wine store prior to going to anybody else's house because when I was drinking, she would complain about that. I do remember that a lot about my childhood too. It was a lot of liquor store runs. Yeah.

Kelly: 25:01

Yeah. We were regularly. It's amazing what you can remember. When you get to be our age, let's see if you remember that. You probably will. It doesn't just disappear. But as a child though, I don't know, I just feel like you weren't, like, why are we here again? Drinking is bad. It was just part of your life. And Sunday dinners, right? We consumed a massive amount of alcohol. Yeah. On Sunday dinners. Like what? Did you ever,

Carter: 25:25

no, it just never, it was all I knew,

Tracey: 25:27

yeah, I don't think Maddie didn't associate it necessarily with something bad either. It just was like her norm, but it was just almost like a nuisance her like, mom, why do you always gotta get wine? Yeah. Because it was stopping her from getting to where she wanted to know.

Kelly: 25:43

More

Tracey: 25:43

yeah. Why do we gotta stop and get wine when we're going to visit my friends? it'll be interesting to see what her perspective is when she gets even older. For sure. But Maddie was younger than she, you Carter, when I stopped. She's 13. 13, so she would've been like 11 when I stopped. So yeah, we'll see. Do you remember? You're still old enough to remember stuff, but do you remember going to the beer store or liquor store as a kid? Tracey and Kelly? Me? Yeah.

Kelly: 26:12

No, my parents didn't really drink. Oh,

Tracey: 26:14

my parents drank, but they didn't take us to the liquor store. They would've left us at home.

Mike: 26:18

I can remember my dad would put two 20 fours in a shopping cart. We'd. To the beer store. And I just remember I was amazed at the conveyors with the wheels, the rollers, and you had pushed the beer, I remember on the thing. And then the full box of beer come out the other end, I thought that was like magic Yeah. And now what? It's holy cow. Holy. I definitely remember there always being alcohol. More so like half drink drinks everywhere. Yeah. And bottles of beer for sure. There was a lot of that. So when that became my family's norm, it wasn't abnormal to me either, because that's how I grew up with my mom's family, all my aunts and uncles and everything. That's how my mom's family grew up all together. And then that's how. grew up all together, right? Yeah. Yeah. You're around alcohol your whole childhood. Yeah. But it was just your normal, yeah. Oh, I definitely remember being around alcohol at the time. It just, yeah, it didn't occur to me that it was a problem.

Kelly: 27:21

Do you remember going back to our cabin from. our friends and Oh my gosh, dad not being able to find his way back. Yes. Oh, that was due to alcohol?

Carter: 27:30

Yeah. Like I didn't even know at the time. I just,

Kelly: 27:33

yeah. Stuff like that

Carter: 27:35

Would've been like, I just, I don't even know what I would think as a kid because you don't think anything. Negative about your parents when you're a kid. think your parents are superheroes, right? Yeah.

Mike: 27:45

You probably thought it was funny, if anything, right? Yeah. Like it's just, it never was an issue to me.

Kelly: 27:50

Yeah. Interesting.

Mike: 27:52

So do you have conversations about alcohol with your dad in the context of why you've made the decisions

Carter: 27:58

you've. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I just tell'em the same thing I tell everyone it, I haven't had good experiences with it. It doesn't make me feel great, so I choose not to do it. And that's enough for everyone to be like, yeah, you know what? Fair enough.

Mike: 28:12

Good stuff.

Tracey: 28:13

That's good. That's good that people are so accepting of it because I know my partner doesn't drink and he never drank. And I know he gets questioned all the time and his close friends would never pressure him about it or anything, but he constantly got asked oh, you sure you don't wanna drink? Oh, you sure don't wanna drink. And it's how many times does one person have to say they don't drink to you? For him. It wasn't because he had a problem yeah. It was just he wasn't interested in it, it wasn't his thing. But

Kelly: 28:41

I really see this like Carter's generation, I think a lot of kids are choosing not to, and I think, yeah, once. If you stay on this path and decide not to have alcohol in your life, and just simply saying I don't drink, I think that's gonna be more of the norm, for sure. Whatever, thank you. Yeah, and I love it. I love, all this stuff that's coming out with all the alcohol free, boozes and stuff like that. Like I think that's so cool.

Mike: 29:05

Business. You didn't you talk about a alcohol free store or restaurant?

Kelly: 29:11

Yeah, we have a store. There's restaurants popping up. I saw an article the other day of a business owner, I think it was somewhere in the States that he did an alcohol free event at his bar, like he has a bar and he decided to do an alcohol free event with no serving alcohol, just alcohol free cocktails, and like over 300 people. Wow. Wow. And now he's making it a regular event. I should have saved it. Sorry guys. That's awesome. Yeah, stuff like that. It's it keep

Mike: 29:38

Businesses like that depend obviously a lot on the revenue for their operation of their business rent and whatnot. It's a challenge for them, I think, to figure out ways to are people gonna pay five bucks for a non-alcoholic cocktail? That's, we pay, yeah, they'll They pay big bucks for a Starbucks coffee. With

Kelly: 29:56

My girlfriend paid, I think it was we have this place it's called the Forks in Winnipeg, and it's do you guys know like Grandville Island? Yeah, I do. Yeah. Like a mini Grandville Islander, St. Lawrence Market. Oh, okay. But it's where people go. It's really cool. But she paid, I think it was like 12, almost$12. Like with the tip, maybe for a non-alcoholic glass of wine. That's gonna be the challenge is that people are going to have to realize that. Just because there's no alcohol on it, there still needs to be gratuity and Yeah. And all that stuff. That's gonna be a societal change, I think, too. Yeah. I think people will agree.

Tracey: 30:31

I don't think it's gonna be an issue if people will pay the money. The difference will be that people won't drink in excess because they're not getting a buzz or drunk off of it. It's also, so there'd be a lot less drinks. Somebody's not gonna chug back 10 non-alcoholic drinks. Yeah. Yeah. It's what the challenge wouldn't be

Mike: 30:48

Yeah. I think it's about how do these establishments provide the social engagement or the social fund? dancing and entertainment games, those types of things. That's gonna be the key to, I think how this evolves the years that we go on for sure. It's yeah, it's definitely gonna be interesting cause you see things like What's that thing called? Dave and Busters? With all these games. They still have alcohol there, but it's more, what's that, Mike? like a adult Chucky cheese,

Kelly: 31:15

oh yeah. Like that place that you guys went. The rec room. Yeah. We have one here.

Tracey: 31:19

Yeah. We have one called GameStop now, too.,I think it's called. No, it's called Game Time Social. Oh, game time social. There you go, Mike. Yeah, it's, you know where it is, Kelly? It's at the old tequila Will.

Kelly: 31:30

Oh, I know where that is. Yeah. I have a scar on my arm. There you go. Scar on this arm from the toilet paper thing when I was drunk. Yeah. Oh God.

Tracey: 31:40

Yeah. I think you're right though, Kel. I think that the younger generation are. Making different decisions. Yeah. Even Randy's son doesn't drink, which isn't shocking. He's 18 old. He just turned 18. Yeah. Yeah. And to be honest with you, I don't even think he ever tried alcohol, with the exception of he tried it just recently when he was at a trailer of Randy's friends with Randy. Really? But yeah. And. I know I talked to you guys about my nieces and nephews and just, they had some interesting perspective on it too, and Right. I know they have drank and I've been around them when they've been drinking, but I think they're making the choice. The younger ones I've never seen drinking. And the older ones, I think they are making the choice to definitely do it less.

Kelly: 32:26

Yeah. My oldest is almost 27 and he is eh, I don't know if this alcohol thing's all it's cracked up to be, he's starting to get worse hangovers and stuff like that. So he's drinking less and less. So it's interesting, but the little brother is leading the way with influence. So little brother, he'll have a beer here and, oh, this one? Yeah, this. Ok. There's another, so his brother, Carter's brother is less than two years younger and he doesn't wanna be drunk. But he'll have a couple beers. Yeah. He's had chats with me saying yeah, he does not like the feeling of being drunk. And I don't know, it's just thing you years, he's 16. Yep. Yeah. So it's the older brother. That's the one that's the oldest is the experiencing the roads of. Alcohol living. And he's the wild one. Oh, yes. He's the most like me,

Carter: 33:21

He's got all the crazy stories, got tons of crazy party stories like I do. But yeah, these guys, the, it'll be the weekend. And I'm like, all right, are you going anywhere? Are you doing anything? And I just think of, my high school years and when I was 18, my goodness.

Tracey: 33:36

No, that's the generation though too. The way they interact with each other is way different than us. Oh, for sure. And they do a lot more stuff online and a lot more staying home. I see that with my, there's house parties, nieces and nephews too. There's, yeah, they're still like crazy house parties and bush parties and stuff like that. These guys just don't go to them because I wanna go just see what's I did at one point though. I just, I did at one point. I'm just over. I'm over that already. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. They live fast. Smart. Yeah. I mean I just, I learned really quick that it wasn't okay. I Obviously it's a part of being young that you do these things and then eventually you realize it's not a real part of life. Going to bush parties and house parties and stuff. But Just take

Mike: 34:20

a lot longer, a lot

Kelly: 34:21

longer than, I dunno how I made this smart person, you guys. Yeah.

Carter: 34:26

But I guess it just, I'm pretty sure my buddies that might still be going to bush parties and they're well into their forties, oh god. Some are fifties. Yeah. Geez. Yeah. I'm glad I realized that from a young age then.

Mike: 34:40

It allows you to figure out what you want to do with your life from. Personal and like you said, you wanna travel. And drinking, it's expensive. No, true. I didn't get, I didn't travel very much, probably because of my lifestyle. I chose to party party had to be a party. And it's disappointing. But the awareness is there to at least pass on the experience to people of your generation say, it's not always what it's cracked up to be. It really. Yeah. I think I had the fear of missing out for sure. Couldn't miss a party, couldn't miss a bar. Night would be hungover from Friday night on Saturday. Oh, I gotta go to Emma's cuz don't want to miss something. And now you look back and go, I don't remember any of it. A, because I was drunk or B because I just don't remember any of it. Cause I'm old

Tracey: 35:26

Because it wasn't worth, remember. It was the same experience over and over again. Yeah. Not,

Kelly: 35:32

and if you're around drunk people, what do they do? They tell the same stories over and over again. right? Didn't you find that? Weren't your parents telling the same stories over and over again? Oh my gosh.

Tracey: 35:43

and that's the beautiful thing about not drinking and wanting to travel and experience things, is that you'll remember them., and I'm sure your mom can tell you about that because she has talked about her travels and Yeah. Missing out on things and not Yeah, like missing entire days, like somewhere in Europe, I would be somewhere in Europe and I'd miss an entire day of vacation because I was so hungover in bed. Wow. And almost missing flights and rides to

Carter: 36:11

the airport. Yeah. Like I just know that the kind of life I want to have doesn't include drinking You can't. Yeah, like what my mom just said, you can't travel on a hangover. You can't do that stuff while you're drunk. Yeah, I wanna

36:23

have,

Mike: 36:24

it's very unpleasant. It's very young.

Tracey: 36:26

You can, but it's not, it won't be the same experience though. Yeah. No, you're gonna, it only makes for a good story that, and that's not worth it, to be honest with you. No. Yeah. And you only wanna have so many of those stories in your life. Yeah. You're gonna have the, you don't wanna be able to write a book, that's for sure. Yeah. You'll be, write a book, you'll be present instead, which is much more valuable.

Mike: 36:51

Yeah. You can start your own podcast and you can just,

Tracey: 36:53

travel podcasts. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, that's an idea.

Mike: 36:56

Do on any topic you want, travel to whatever

Carter: 37:00

Yeah.

Mike: 37:00

Guy, he's so mature. It's insane I swear to God, I think I'm talking to a five year old. It's not lying.

Kelly: 37:06

And his hair, this George Hair, George Michael Hair,

Mike: 37:10

he's a handsome lad. That's Yes, George. He definitely

Tracey: 37:14

looks like his mom. You can tell you're related.

Kelly: 37:17

Yes. People say, Twinsies. Twinsies. Yeah. Twins. Very fun.

Tracey: 37:25

This has been awesome. Thanks so much, Carter, for coming on and sharing with us. Thank you. Very brave of you. You should be super proud of yourself. You're very wise, young man. Thank you.

Mike: 37:38

Very much though. I echo the sentiment yeah. Thanks Carter for coming on and sharing. I'm so proud of you Thanks everybody for listening. You can connect with us through our Facebook community, Instagram. We'll put the links in the show notes. We're now on YouTube. Yeah. Yeah. So find us there. If you have any questions or comments or a topic idea, or if you would like to be a guest on the LAF Life podcast, please reach out. And until next time, keep laughing. Bye everybody.

Kelly: 38:15

Thank you for listening. Please give us a five star rating like and subscribe, share on social media and tell your friends. We love getting your feedback and ideas of what you'd like to hear on upcoming episodes of the laugh life podcast. If you yourself are living alcohol free and want to share your story here, please reach out.