average life

A coworker and I went to eat lunch at our boss’ favorite restaurant today (Taqueria Del Sol, check it out). He wasn’t with us. It wasn’t malicious. It just happened…without him.

Anyway, while we were there we stood in line behind a dad with his cute little girl. I love kids. They’re fun. So this guy was acting like a great dad (well, I assumed dad anyway). He was playing with the kid, but didn’t let her run wild. He seemed to have an air of protecting her, too. Both were laughing and smiling. So, you know, good times.

The one thing that had me raise an eyebrow was when he ordered his meal (at Taqueria you place your order, take your seat and then they bring it to you) he ordered a margarita. This seemed weird to me. Who orders an alcoholic beverage when eating lunch with their three year old? Now, I don’t come from a drinking background, so while I thought it was odd, I wrote it off to my unfamiliarity with drinking culture.

After my coworker and I took our seat she commented on the margarita. She isn’t a teetotaler like me and even to her this seemed off. Now since being in Atlanta, I’ve become accustomed to seeing the aloof parents to whom their kids seems only to be an inconvenience. (While I saw my fair share of Wal-Mart style screaming parents growing up, I believe the city has more indifferent yuppie-type parents.) With such a detached parent, I probably wouldn’t have thought much about the drink, but this guy was very much involved with his kid. Not that prohibition is a requirement for good parenting and I realize this guy wasn’t going to get wasted or even buzzed from one margarita but, well, does this seem weird to anyone else? If not, why did it bother me to the point that I am still thinking about it?