thursday through my eyes: on alcohol.

ok.

alcohol...

hot button topic, i know.

on my 21st birthday, 

just about a month after i was baptized,

the husband

 {he was then called--the boyfriend} 

and i went out to a nice restaurant for dinner.

it was the typical, "hi, how are you" as we took a seat at our table.

then...our waiter came.

server:

"hey guys! are we celebrating anything special?!"

me: 

"it's actually my 21st birthday..."

server:

"awesome! happy birthday! let's get you two started with some drinks!! we've got x, y, z...how about some shots?!"

me:

"oh, no that's ok. do you have diet coke?"

what followed my words in that moment will live in my mind forever.

our server literally looked at us {speechless} and walked away.

he did not utter one.single.word.

rather, with a dumbfounded look on his face, he turned and headed away from us.

the funny thing about this situation is...

it has happened to the husband and i multiple times since then.

most of the time it is at a nice restaurant!

it's not that our server walks away each time... 

but the moment we say we aren't ordering alcoholic drinks, 

and our server knows the bill is going to be smaller {aka smaller tip},

our service tanks. 

we've even had to speak to a manager before because we sat at a table for 20 minutes,

watching others get, not only their drinks, but their appetizers and salads

 before our server came back with our drinks.

it's crazy, i know.

i've been criticized, questioned, and teased for not drinking alcohol since converting.

i've been labeled "weird" because i choose not to drink because of my faith.

so why not label those who choose not to drink because of the taste?
or those who choose not to drink for the health reasons?

or what about those who choose not to drink because of alcoholism in their family?
and how about people who choose not to drink
because they don't like the way they act when they are drinking?

do we judge these people?

nope.
at least, i don't see that happening.
in fact in many cases it looks the opposite to me.
we often look up to people who choose not to drink for those reasons.
we see them as doing something honorable.

through my eyes, drinking alcohol is a personal choice.

you can chose to either drink it...or not.

it's really that simple.

does it matter why you make your choice?

maybe.

but the only person it should matter to is yourself.