Friday Night Memories

Hey everyone, it’s Friday.  I was just thinking back to the days when I was single, and my bestie Alison and I would spend Friday nights at our favorite summer hangout, The Rusty Pelican. Happy hour meant yummy, free finger foods and cheap drinks, so we’d pretty much spend the whole evening there. There was a bar area with a good-sized dance floor, a fine-dining restaurant (spendy!), and an awesome deck overlooking the Willamette River. We’d stand there with our drinks, leaning out over the water, and let the silky breezes cool our faces, while of course checking out the single guys.. ...and letting ourselves be checked out by them.

Sounds idyllic, right? In retrospect, it could have been fun. But to be honest, the major emotion I was feeling at the time was anxiety. I might have looked cool and “together”, but inside I was a mess of self-doubt.

Do these pants make my butt look fat?
Is the moisture in the air making my hair fuzzy?
What if that super-hot guy asks me to dance? Yikes!

In the end, most of the guys I met there turned out to be looking for casual sex – big surprise – which was not something I was up for in those days.  Alison and I invariably went home alone, only to repeat the process the following weekend. I’m not sure what we were looking for. We never found it. I eventually met my hubby through a personal ad in the local art rag, forerunner of online dating. We’ve been together way more years than I care to admit here.

If the RP was still there, and I happened to be free on a Friday night, I would love to stand out on that deck again and watch the singles play their games.  I might understand it all a little better now. I’d certainly be more relaxed.

What about you? What was/is your favorite Friday night hang out? 

~Pepper Anthony
"Let's read something spicy!"