A Groupie Again

Friday night, all 3 of my children had sleepovers-somewhere else. AND, Erik had a gig. ALSO, several people from OUR CHURCH were planning on being supportive and coming to a BAR to hear him play. This made my heart all aflutter for my church friends because THAT IS A HUGE GESTURE!! A gesture that really makes a great impression on my husband and his non church attending band mates. He really likes it when people he knows come out to see him play. So I decided it would be really bad if I did not go out and support him as well.

As I got ready Friday night, all I could think was-I used to do this nearly every weekend. Who was that girl? That girl who would doll up and go out with friends and get really drunk. I can also remember many of the poor decisions and unpleasant relationships those days brought me. SO, my heart really was not into getting ready to go to a bar. After all I am a happily married mother to three-not the usual type for bars. BUT, I did it anyway. I tried to take a friend with me, I hated the idea of walking in alone-but I was forced to fly solo. It was silly, of course, my husband would be there along with those from church. I debated buying a pack of cigarettes-I am not a smoker but something about a bar commands it and this particular bar is one of the few smoking ones. I did not. So I traveled alone to the place and I walked in alone. I had brought my driver's license-EVER HOPEFUL-but they did not doubt me being old enough. I paid the cover and walked in, looking all around at a familiar scene that has not changed much since 'the days'.

I made my way to the stage, smiling at the shocked looks of his band mates. And there he was, the object of my affections. He was soo happy to see me and I knew I had made the right decision. I warned him I would only stay for one set and one break-the polite amount of time.

I ended up staying for 3 sets and 3 breaks. I had fun. Because the people from our church are wonderful and not stuffy or judgemental. AND they can dance! (I would have tried but I had to save all the function in my knee for aerobics today.) And because people in bars are, for the most part, hilarious and pitiful all at the same time. We enjoyed trying to figure out who was dating whom. There was a cougar there with her young boyfriend...but also her very old boyfriend. She danced the same way with both. I had two sips of a beer I had never tried. (Bud Light lime-very yummy) I drank water. I bummed three cigarettes. I was asked to dance by a stranger, which was a tiny ego boost even though he was certainly not brag-worthy. (He was so shocked when I said "no thank you".)

The best part of all though was how happy I made my darling husband. It is a job to him, an opportunity to play drums. He does not have very many opportunities to do that outside of bars and parties. Our church doesn't do instrumental music so there are not many chances to use his gift of music in that way. So, he has played in bands almost his whole adult life. For alot of those years, I was his faithful groupie. I followed him to every gig and even helped carry stuff in and out. Then it got very old. It isn't something I am going to start doing again on a regular basis, but, it was a fun night. I thoroughly enjoyed making my husband a happy man by being a supportive spouse.