this round's on me...

i haven't been drinking for very long, alchohol that is, but recently i've noticed a certain culture that comes with the territory and its different than what old pastors, televangelists, and grandparents warned me of. i was always told that drinking led to all sorts of debauchery (anyone reading this can use their imagination here). i was led to believe that nothing good came from drinking, just addictions and heart ache. true, that can come but it doesn't always and that is not the side that i've experienced at all. a few weeks ago, after the funeral of a great friend of mine, some other friends and I decided to pass some stories of our friend that we are left to miss over a few pictures of beer at our local neighborhood "On Tap" sports bar. Well after a few pitchers, several stories, and many laughs the bill came. We all reached for our wallets and began to ask our overworked waitress if she could split it. but we were all stopped. stephen, the one guy at the table that wasn't a believer, said "hey guys i got it." i was kinda taken back. that was more than 20 bucks worth of beer. i wouldn't have paid for all of it. but he did and his only response was, "guys, is a few beers. seriously." then i began noticing this type of drinking congeniality / generosity in more places. at community group jimmy would bring 12 packs and share them with me, never asking me to chip in. again at stephen's wedding shower, the invitations clearly stated BYOB. i didn't but when i got there, i think every single person there offered freely of the beer they'd brought. again at community group we ate out and jon becker after already ordering one glass before gene and i got there, sees me sit down without a beer and asks, "hey you guys want a pitcher, i'll grab one," not waiting for my answer. time and again i see a spirit of generosity, welcome, and community surrounding beer. who knew? i see it in believers and non-believers alike....beer kindness tends not to be categorized like that. its pretty fantastic i think. but still everytime someone orders a pitcher, i think to myself, "better him than me." and the more that i saw that attitude in myself the more i realize that im just a selfish jerk.
well last night david called me and asked if i wanted to go to rojo. my mission was clear. i was to join the ranks of the beer buying brotherhood....even if it wasn't happy hour anymore. we got there and i called jimmy, who lives on top of rojo and didn't care to eat but i knew he'd drink some if it was there waiting for him. david and i ordered, i made sure to go first and ordered a pitcher of stella, which i was told they were out of, so then i resorted to hoegartën. we sat down poured our beers and began to talk. wonderful conversations happen over beer, this is another fact that i'm becoming convinced of. then jimmy came. "saddle up partner" (ala jim carrey....dumb and dumber) i said as i poured jimmy a glass. good times were had by all.
i liken the whole experience to the story of smurfette. see smurfette was originally designed by gargamel, the evil sorcerer, to infiltrate the smurf colony and bring it down. but eventually the overwhelming goodness of the smurf way of life changed her, and she decided to live there and be smurffy with all the others. in a lot of ways i was brought up to believe that drinking was flat wrong, but it was good to hang out with drinkers, so that they could see the error of their ways in my righteous living, and be changed. that's not why i began hanging out with drinkers, honestly most of the people i drink with have a far better understanding of how to live rightly than i do, but at any rate it's i who am being changed by the groups of people that i've been hanging out with and i think thats just smurffy.