Unhip to be square?

The Mr and I were talking the other night after a workout about how lucky we are to have found each other so young.  We also were thankful that we share the same views when it comes to things like drinking, drugs and tobacco and how we're treated by 99% of people we encounter because of those views, particularly the fact that we don't drink.

*Allowing people to process that since it seems to be akin to revealing you have a third talking boob*

That's right.  The Mr and I don't imbibe and people have no problem having all kinds of negative reactions to that.  We've heard it all...

"What, you think you're better than me?"

"Why the hell not?"  (accompanied by major grimace of disapproval and reasons why we should)

"Here, I'm going to order you a drink."  (It's your $8 pal while it sits on the table watering down)

Or some people will flat out walk away.  That's right.  We've been deemed so completely uncool because we don't have a drink in our hand that we're no longer fit enough to breathe the same air space.  Screw you dude/lady.

The one that always cracks me up is this one..."Well I don't drink all the time either.  It's not like I'm a drunk or some alcoholic or something.  I mean, I just drink socially, you know how it is."

I do not need you to justify to me why you drink.  I don't care.  But let's also not tell me all the time that you don't drink when half of your Facebook feed is full of the alcoholic beverage in your hand at the moment and looks like you work in a brewery.  I get those a lot.

When I was a kid, I went through the normal phases where you try to "be cool" to fit in.  I pretended to smoke so the rebel guy would like me in middle school when the fact is, I never inhaled a single time and could probably count on two hands how many times I "smoked" a cigarette.  I've probably smoked a total of two full ones in my whole life.  Most of the time I just flicked it to give the appearance of smoking.  It didn't work and the guy is probably in jail anyway...he was a real hood in every sense of the word.  Puppy love.  Misguided, blinders on puppy "love."

*rolling eyes*

I hung around so many concerts, rock bands and friends that smoked pot that I probably got a contact buzz or two back in the day.  But the smell of pot makes me want to puke and makes the person smoking it smell like an armpit.  So yeah, not sexy to me.  I always stood my ground when I was a teen about not smoking it and people never tried to force it on me so I'm grateful I never caved into that.

As far as alcohol, I've had family members drink from when I was a kid to adulthood and I hate the way people act when they're sloshed.  Dudes tend to get a little stupid or "handsy" and women act a fool.  The Mr had similar issues and even had a family member ruin several weddings because he was so drunk.  You can imagine it was no surprise we had a "dry" wedding which was noted in the actual invite..."non-smoking, non-alcoholic reception to follow."  That way people knew not to expect to come to our reception and get free booze.  You got water, tea and punch...period.  You know what?  To this day we still get people saying it was the best reception they ever attended.  The dance floor was overflowing and people were dancing between tables.  It proved we made the right decision and stayed true to our beliefs.  The people who just couldn't take it left early and that was one couple and they weren't missed.

We still marvel how after all these years, we still get so much shit for not drinking.  His co-workers look at him like he's a cyclops and I've told my former co-workers to let me know when they get together for dinner in a place that's not a bar like the first big gathering.  Oddly enough, when another one was attempted to be arranged at a regular restaurant, it was cancelled due to lack of response.  Curious.

Personally, alcohol gives me an instant headache, like a migraine unless it's cut with something like soda and even then it's a crap shoot.  Not worth it to me.  The only time I haven't experienced that was a few months ago when I cut some spiced wine with ginger ale.  Ring a ding.

Even though I've told people about the migraines, they still give a look like I'm making an excuse.  The Mr's co-workers try to make him feel like he's somehow not a "real man" because he doesn't come home and crack open a cold one or go out with the guys after work to watch them all drink.  It would seriously be easier for us to tell people we're recovering alcoholics than to just say we don't like to drink.  That's sad.  I don't get the obsession or why people have such a strong opinion as to why we don't drink or make fun of us because we don't.  There's no real point to this, just an observation and I didn't know if we were the only people on Earth who don't imbibe.

Edit:  To clarify, the people who say something to us are not our friends.  (Some of our friends may feel the need to justify why they drink but our real friends don't care that we don't drink.  These are strangers or co-workers of ours or friends of friends type situations.  I wouldn't hang out with people who were that idiotic to constantly question our choice.)

Anyone else out there not drink?  If so, do you find yourself being treated differently because of it?

**Please note, I'm NOT judging people who drink.  If you drink, I don't care and don't feel like you have to justify it in the comments or email me.  I'm just curious if anyone else doesn't because we truly feel like we're the only ones who don't!**

====================
Like this post? Don't miss another one...subscribe via email or RSS feed. (Or you can follow me on Facebook and Twitter )