Never, never land

Some things take on a life of their own.

The entire clan attended a wedding last Saturday and it was a posh affair. Incredible meal, announced course by course on a menu displayed at each place setting. Dessert was accompanied by Starbucks coffee.

My son, Justin, decided to order tea, not because he prefers tea to coffee (that would be his sister, Liz), but because he has never had a cup of Starbucks coffee. It's not that he's a rabid anti-globalization nut, as he readily acknowledges Starbucks commitment to fair trade coffee, its forays into organic coffee, and the company's rather forward thinking benefits program. (He does, however, personally blame Starbucks for the demise of Mike's Coffee, a Poway neighborhood coffee shop.) He's never had a cup of Starbucks coffee and didn't want to start last Saturday down some personal road to caffeine perdition.

And that led to a conversational riff about other "nevers". Birdmonster band mate David Klein's grandmother has never eaten anything from McDonald's. Imagine, billions and billions served and the incredible statistic that here in the U.S. one in seven people have a meal at McDonald's every day, and David's is the octogenarian poster Nana for healthy eating.

Finally, Frank Sinatra claimed that he never wore a pair of blue jeans in his life.