i was so much older then...

(Madeline's toes 8/5/05 digital)
look at all the little piggies

This past Saturday my fiance, Steve and i went on our first post-baby "date" at the urging of my parents. They so kindly offered to come to our house and babysit our little bundle of joy. We a nice, but too expensive for our means dinner and some drinks. It had been quite awhile since we had done the whole "dinner, drinks, live entertainment with cover charge" thing and that fact became obvious when we realized we went out with nothing more than plastic in our wallets. Of course that evening the ATM at the joint was out of service and we could not pay the cover. To make matters worse, my fiance had a slight incident with an overweight, overzealous "bouncer" who was exercising his right to be a bit of a prick. (The incident was nothing big, mind you, just the bouncer, who was definetly picked on his entire life and probably suffered nicknames like "lard ass" or "lord of the pansies" was just exerting his wee bit o'authority in a rather pudlike manner)

We ended up at the erstwhile "martini bar" that i used to frequent during what i like to refer to as my "touch with alcoholism"days. The bar had changed ownership in the last year and was not the same as i had so carefully left it. This used to be my bar - where i always felt comfortable and could tie one on for minimal dough. I had been going there since before i was legal and i have many fond, if not slightly hazy memories of my beloved watering hole. I knew it wouldn't be the same - life does not happen in a vacuum - but i hoped that i could still feel that soft blanket of familiarity when i parked my ass at the bar and ordered a cold one. There were faces i recognized, cold beer and a warm barkeep. I know that life will continue to trudge on whether I like it or not - this bar (that i romanticize now to be better than it really was) is an element of my life i would have liked to tuck under a bell jar and preserve for later. Perhaps it is better this way - they say you can never go back home. So for now i will be all quaint and touching about a place that is undeserving of my sentimentality - cheers and good riddance