Something Old. Something New. Something Vinegary. Navy Blue.

BT & Me

This was a great weekend.  The centerpiece was Debra and Scott’s wedding.  When I got the invitation, I didn’t know Debra very well and I didn’t know Scott at all.  The bride is my cousin Patrick’s daughter, though.  So, we’re related.  That’s probably the reason why I was invited.  No matter.  It was a party, and I made the guest list, so, of course, I went.

I’m glad I did.  It was a fascinating weekend.  The hotel the wedding guests stayed at was in State College, Pennsylvania, the home of the famous and infamous Nittany Lions.  It was also the home of BT Schwier, one of my best friends from my old Navy days.  The day after the wedding, I actually wound up having brunch with him in the Nittany Lion Inn, a luxurious hotel and restaurant the college runs as part of their Hotel & Restaurant Degree Program.  It was an awesome meal, in an awesome place, with an awesome old friend.  There were four rooms of food choices, in addition to the mountain of desserts stacked in the main dining room.  There were so many good things to eat, and the conversation was so lively that I didn’t even notice that there weren’t any mimosas until I was on the bus back home.

Brother X and his wife were at the wedding.  I was glad of that.  Now that my dancing days are getting behind me, it was good to know that I would be sitting at the table with people I knew.  Plus, since it was a wedding, not a Family Thanksgiving Dinner, the conversation would be on the funny side, too.  There are a lot of fun things to talk about at weddings.  Usually, it’s every other guest.

My fun weekend actually started on Thursday, though.  Way back during the football playoffs, my friend Dwayne and I went to the Alley Kat for some pizza and beer to go.  We had a beer while we waited for our order.  We couldn’t get a seat at the bar, but we were close.  The couple sitting at the bar in front of us, had come from a holiday party, and they were having a lot of fun.  She turned to me and said, “Where are you from?”

“Well, right now, I’m from around the corner, but I used to live on Long Island.”

“I thought so.  You sound just like my friend, Debbie.  How tall are you?”

“Five-eleven and a half.”

“Take off your hat.”

I did as directed.

“You’ve got hair.  You should lose the hat.”

“But it’s cold out.”

“I’m Denise.  This is Mike.  What’s your phone number?”

I looked over at the guy, whose thighs were in her hands, and wondered what was going on.

“What’s your phone number?” she repeated.  “You’d be perfect for my friend, Debbie.  She’s in California now, but I’ll tell her about you when she gets back.”

I gave her my number, and several weeks later Debbie actually did call me.  She was interested in meeting me, but she wanted to know more about me than just that I was five eleven and a half and had hair.  She wanted to know specific details, like if I was out on bail.  That kind of stuff.

During the course of the Q & A phone call, she asked me about my religion.  I told her I was an Agnostic, and she volunteered that she was a Mennonite.”  I thought that my Agnosticism would be a deal-breaker, but I must have given enough correct answers to the other questions, and so, last Thursday we went out for an early dinner.

During the evening, she commented that she didn’t wear the little bonnets that most Mennonite women wore.

“Mennonite?” I said in mock surprise.  “I thought you said you were looking for a “man-a-night.”  That’s why I said to pencil me in for Thursday.”

She actually laughed.  That’s my kind of Mennonite.

Anyway, back to the wedding.  I was talking to Brother X, and I told him about the telephone “interview” before my blind date with Debbie.

“It’s strange when someone asks you to describe yourself in one word,” I said.  “What one word would you use to describe me?”

“Douchebag.”

“I think that’s two words.”

“See what I mean.  You’re a douchebag.”

“Well, I don’t think that would have been a good answer.  I went with, ‘Fun-loving’.”

“Douchebag would have been more accurate,” he said.  “I can even smell the vinegar on your breath.”

“I think that’s just the house dressing from the salad.”

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl