Same Venue, Different View
Over the weekend I got together with a longtime dear friend for a much needed girl’s weekend.
My friend is the full time mom of a very happy and rambunctious toddler, so she needed a minute to herself to remember the not-mom side of her life.
On our weekend away, we walked a well worn path. Over the decade we’ve been pals, one of our favorite things is to grab a room at a really high end hotel, get tickets to a concert at the outdoor Shoreline Amphitheater, and have a raucous time.
To be honest, we haven’t done this for several years. I got married, then she got married, then she gave birth and suddenly life and all that goes with it intervened.
We were both glad to reconvene and return to our tradition. It bears noting, however, that on this weekend things were markedly different than in the past.
Where once we talked of work, our insane boss (we used to work in the same team), worries about saving enough money to support being a single gal, our dating life both good and bad, and the latest fashion available…
This weekend we talked of her being a mom, of how work is still important but takes a backseat to what matters in life, how to save enough money to retire on, our husbands, and the latest styles of magnifying reader glasses available and where to buy them.
We asked each other if it is inevitable to end up with the same physical attributes of our mother, no matter how hard we try. We lamented the years that have passed so quickly.
Back in the day after we’d gotten caught up, we’d start at the hotel bar, move on to a local Mexican restaurant with a wide array of tequila, then go to the concert venue grabbing beers and more fun on the way.
My friend weighs about 90 lbs on a good day, and when she drinks takes on the demeanor of a linebacker. Our friendship has been a lot about her having three to my one margarita and then bouncing off the fences.
I’ve pulled her out of girl fights, away from skeevy guys, off the venue railing, away from climbing up on the stage and I’ve literally carried her to the car more than once.
Friday, she arrived at the hotel and asked “Do you mind if we don’t drink much tonight?”
I said that was fine (and inside I felt incredibly relieved).
We ate room service, forgoing the heavily crowded restaurant of our usual mode. Then we went to see a Toby Keith show.
You know…Toby Keith used to play at the country bar Cowboy’s in Las Cruces. I used to go dancing to Toby Keith and Easy Money (when they were just known as Easy Money and no one cared who Toby Keith was) in my college years.
On Friday I read an SFGate article about celebrities that turned 50 this year.
Toby is on that list.
Seems even Toby has lost a step or two. He looks road weary and his set was pretty uninspired.
We left before the encore. As we walked out, the crowd of a billion girls in Daisy Dukes and boots pressed in around us. My friend commented, “I don’t think I’ve ever been to a show here where I wasn’t drunk. I’m suddenly very aware of my small size. How come I never worried about that before?”
I replied, “Because when you drink you’re ten feet tall.”
She laughed, then sighed. Then she said, “I miss my cub.”
I put my arm around her and we walked out of the venue together, solid on our four feet.
Later we texted our husbands to let them know we’d made it back to the hotel safely.
Then we both went to bed before midnight. Turns out that my tiny friend now snores like a longshoreman.
Things change. I guess it’s inevitable.
While sometimes I lament the past, I think we are both a lot happier today than we were back then.
Mostly.
Where once this view fired me up, now I think “what happens if there’s a fire?”
Copyright 2011, Karen Fayeth
It might also be mentioned that my magnetic powers of attracting the most sloppy drunk Hispanic cowboy in the house are still strong. If they got white boots that are too pointy and a belt that’s too long, they will find a way to find me. He was harmless and I quickly pawned him off on a gaggle of drunk girls. I bet that he’d be barfing before the encore. My friend had more faith than I did and took the after. She won the bet.
Photo taken Friday night with the Camera+ app for the iPhone.
