I stepped WAAAYYY outside of my comfort zone last night ... and the stepping out began about two weeks ago. A local, Al Chavez, routinely posts events on his Facebook page. I get his notifications. I don't often attend anything, but when I saw that Jeff Bridges and the Abiders were coming back to the Maverick, I immediately called for ticket pricing. At $40 a ticket, I thought it would be criminal not to go. Hmm ... didn't really want to go alone. I mean, I could, sure, I'm a grown girl - how hard could it be to walk in to a bar-cum-concert hall, order a drink, find a seat, and enjoy live music? Well, not very difficult at all. Still, I would be MUCH more comfortable if someone I knew were with me. But who did I want that someone to be?????
I tapped my daughter's father, David. We've been apart for a LOT longer than we were together - but have remained friends. Not the sort of friends who see each other all the time, but we certainly are clued in to one another's lives. I told him what was happening, and he said if he could get a dog sitter, he was all in. Anna came through for him, and he headed north.
Keith and Kristen joined us for dinner, with all parties contributing to the dinner. Simple fare, steak, potatoes au grautin, a delicious salad, and a Pinot Noir and a Cab Sav. Kristen brought cookies from a recipe her daughter created that morning, and we finished the meal with white chocolate-macadamian nut cookies. Pretty darn good, too.
Before I even realized it, it was 8:30 and time to walk down to the Maverick. We were four rows from the front, on the far left side of the room. (Just an aside: being that I am deaf in my left ear - to human sounds - so weird!, I always gravitate to that side, so that my ear is to the world, if you will.) The five of us - me, David, my girlfriend Annmarie (in LA from Nashville - how cool is THAT?!) and her two friends - took up most of that row.
The crowd was rowdy, excited, joy-infused. Well, most of us were, at any rate. I got up to dance, and glanced at the couple in the row behind ours ... the woman was asleep! How she managed to do that is beyond me, but there she was, peacefully sleeping. Amazing.
I hadn't danced anywhere other than my home in years. Literally. Man, it was a blast! Even got Annmarie to get up and dance with me for a few minutes. She was wearing these amazing boots ... I'm sure hand-stitched, pieces of red dancing all over them. She fit in as if she were born to Santa Ynez. Me? I was in stilettos and jeans, a black sleeveless top. Not exactly born to Santa Ynez .... but I didn't care. It was entirely too much fun to be there.
As I was climbing back into my seat from the wild dance, it dawned on me - this was the first uninhibited outing I'd had in .... well, I couldn't remember back that far. And I vowed, right then and there, to make it the first of many to come.
I'm not sure if the world is ready for me to 'come out of the closet', if you will .... but I am! Look out!!
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