Oh What a Night

Trying to think of any special night that I might want to share here and might also still be accessible from this oh so NOT efficient memory bank I call my mind. At this age, I have had some fabulous nights and a few that I remember vividly, but they aren't for publication. They are for cherishing and mentally reliving from time to time. I've probably had way more of those than I can actually recall and maybe that's okay. I mean I am not glad that I can't remember a lot, but I have to deal with what I have at hand, so here is one of the nights I can recall and I can share.


It was a typical day in the life, so to speak, nothing out of the ordinary had happened. I had worked all day. The kids, who were about 9 and 10, I believe, had gone to school,  had eaten dinner and were already in bed. My phone rang. Half irritated, it was 9 p.m. and I didn't want my kids up again, I picked it up quickly. 


"Hello?" Yeah, I answer the phone like a question.


My best friend says, "Hi", little giggle. "It's late, I know, but I'm downtown having a couple of drinks and I seem to be alone now."


"Where's your husband?"


"He went home. He might be mad at me." (Sounding completely unconcerned about that possible state of her personal affairs.)


"Maybe you should go home, need a ride?"


"Yeah, will you come sit with me while I finish my drink and then take me home, please?"


"I will if one of the neighbor girls is still up. Let me check and I'll be up shortly or I'll give a call back." I knew the bar, her fave, so no need to ask.


The neighbor's daughter came over and after reapplying some make-up and putting on some good jeans, I went to rescue my best friend. (Still today is my best friend.)  


She was well into her glass when I got there so I decided to just have one and let her go crazy. She drank more and I stopped and we talked and giggled and just completely relaxed for almost an 3 hours. I thought we were going home, but she had a different idea.


We ended up across the street at another bar for last call. We had 2 hours until closing, but she thought it was time for last call and I wasn't arguing, I was on diet coke by then.  


This bar was hosting karaoke and there were a lot of people both singing and dancing so of course, we danced. A guy I hadn't met before, asked me to dance several times and I enjoyed dancing with him a lot. He was a really good dancer and not too hard on the eyes either.


While the last 2 hours of bar time elapsed, we both danced almost non-stop with friends and strangers alike. She, with a lot of different people and I, mostly with my new friend. It was so much fun and I was absolutely exhausted when we started to gather our stuff to head out. We were both still laughing and having such a good time when Mr. Good Dancer leans over our table and asks,


"Will you be here next week?" He was making direct contact with my eyes and smiling really nicely, not creepy smile, not pervy smile, a nice decent pretty smile.


"I have no idea, I have kids and I can't always find a sitter. We come here now and then though, maybe we'll see you again." I was also maintaining eye contact and smiling. He was a nice guy, I thought. And I was sober.


He said something like, "Hope you can make it" not sure exactly. I was thinking about how his body moved on the dance floor and how mine just seemed to know how to move exactly with him. Not something I learned, something I just felt immediately while he held me song after song and we swayed and gyrated and dipped and twirled.
It was a very good night.


We didn't go back for a few weeks, the kid thing and paying for sitters on top of paying for drinks, not usually a weekly activity for us.  Monthly, maybe.


He never showed up again and I asked several of the regulars if they knew him and no one seemed to know or remember him. Mysterious and maddening. I wanted to know who he was and I began to romanticize this stranger into the perfect man for me! 


 I still remember the night and I remember his face, sort of, but mostly I remember that my friend needed a ride home and I got a really unforgettable two hours of dancing with  a totally great dancer. Whoever he was, I'm glad he was hanging out in Durand just that one night. He wasn't the perfect man for me, by the way, because my perfect man would have come back every week until I showed up again.  


And besides, I wasn't ready for my perfect man at that point and I probably would have done something to make him dump me in a few weeks.  I needed time to become self-sufficient and gain some self-confidence.  He did add a little of that to my hope chest. 


Jo