Starbucks and the DMV

I lost my drivers license somewhere in LAX. Super annoying. I hate the DMV and it isn't something you can do on the web. I was, however, pleasantly surprised that I could make an appointment to replace it just 3 days later.

This morning Lily and I ran a few errands and having time to spare before my 11:30 appointment, I drove through Starbucks for a yummy blended drink. Lily is still adjusting to the late nights of travel and the fourth of July and was getting restless and tired by this time. To avoid a meltdown in the DMV I handed her my beverage. She was mostly chewing on the straw and pushing it up and down to make that annoying straw sound. Whatever, the annoying straw was much less painful than the shrieks of a two year old. As I stood in line chatting with the guy in front of me about how you always have to share whatever you are eating when your child is around, a woman behind me tapped me on the shoulder. The conversation went a little like this;

Woman: Can I be a concerned grandma right now?
Me: Ok? (What would you have done if I politely declined?)
Woman: Is there caffeine in that drink? (As she points to the grande frappuccino my child is holding.)
Me: Yes.
Woman: Are you aware of how terrible caffeine is for children?
Me: Yes, but the tantrum that she would be throwing right now is not worth it. (Do you really think I bought my daughter a grande coffee and she has already consumed half of it?)

At this point another woman came to my rescue and told the lady that she wasn't really drinking it but playing with the straw.

Now lets asses the situation. In no particular order;
1) If my child were eating a Twinkie would you have interrupted? Probably not, but the amount of corn sweeteners, artificial flavorings, artificial colors, preservatives, or the other 37 ingredients found in the snack cake, I believe, are much more harmful that the two sips of my coffee drink. And what about if it were a soda? Are you at all concerned with the ingredients in that, or just the caffeine? Although, an iced coffee would have probably been a better choice for even me with fewer ingredients than the frappuccino . . .
2) Why on earth would you critique a strangers parenting practices in the DMV, of all places? And that's what you are ultimately doing, lady; critiquing my parenting. Can't you do what the rest of us do and judge in silence?
3) A concerned Grandma? You aren't MY Grandma!
4) How did you really expect me to respond? "Oh my goodness, I had no idea! Let me rip this out of her hands and have her watch me throw it in the trash!"

Sigh. Okay, done with my rant. And I was in and out of the DMV in twenty minutes, yay!