A very dear friend of my daughter Jumper threw her a huge graduation party. She has a pool, volleyball nets, a hot tub, you name it. It's like having a party at a hotel. She also baked the cake and it was delish. I love this young adult friend of Jumpers. She is very rich and acts just like you and me and I hope she and Jumper are friends forever. I had a rather uncomfortable moment with her father at the party, however, and I really did not know how to handle it. Nor did my husband or daughter Jumper, who was with us because she was running home to get something.
Obviously the father, who I also like very much...after all he agreed to do all this for my kid, was drunk. I rarely am around people who are drunk and am not sure how to handle them when they get inappropriate. Remember, we all love this man and he adores my daughter. In fact, he ran out to say good-bye to us when we were leaving, and put his arm around Jumper a nd started going on and on and on about what a wonderful young lady she was and an asset to society and that she could come to him anytime for help if she needed it, blah, blah, blah. He was slurring his words and was not touching Jumper in any way that alarmed anybody, including Jumper, who felt uncomfortable, but was sort of laughing as she said, "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."
This man is a single dad, but again I am sure he is never inappropriate with Jumper and frankly Jumper is strong enough and smart enough and mature enough to handle anyone who tries to be inappropriate with her...so that doesn't worry us at all.
He wouldn't stop talking. He wouldn't let us leave. We wanted to leave. We were getting bitten up by bugs. The few adults there were drunk. He kept offering us drinks. We don't drink. He kept saying "Oh, stay, and we'll have fun." We couldn't. We're packing and moving in less than a week and this was a day off my husband had and Jumper was waving us to go home...she didn't need us there.
The question is: How do you get away from somebody who is drunk but really a kind person who has done a lot for you? Normally, I think we all would have just said "Well, see ya later" but this was an unusual situation. I threw it out to my co-workers at work and got different answers, many about how my husband should have punched him for touching Jumper.
He wasn't touching Jumper other than to put his arm around her...it was not like that. So, assuming you folks understand that, what is the kindest way to disengage from somebody you really like who is drunk? We must have been standing there for forty-five minutes, not knowing how to leave, knowing he didn't want us to leave, knowing the adults there were just going to get drunker which really made us not want to stay. I have learned that when adults are drinking, they try to get you to drink and if you don't, it causes everyone to be uncomfortable...at least that has been my experience. Maybe I'm wrong.
Do people who are drunk take offense more easily? Should we just have made our excuses and left? How do you handle this?
