First Time For Everything

So tonight I did something I had never done before ...went to a bar...alone.  All prettied up, butt on the barstool.  Yep.

Now don't be too impressed.  It is Wednesday night.  And it was the bar at my local little Italian restaurant which is within walking distance of my house. And I was the ONLY person at the bar the entire time I was there. 

Let's just say tonight was my training wheels for the bigger show.  A Friday or a Saturday night...at a more active venue. What a departure.  I mean I was the person who always maintained you can't meet anyone of substance in a bar.  So now I'm saying 'Who's looking for substance?'

What the hell am I looking for?  Not sure.  But I do know at the very minimum I'm just looking for human contact.  Is that not the most pathetic thing you've ever heard? Seems I'm not the badass single woman 'I-can-rock-this-whole-middle-aged-starting-over-thing' person I promote.  Jesus, less than five years ago I was a soccer mom, still making dinner for my family, checking homework and keeping the home fires burning.  Today, I'm divorced (still ok with that one), the kids don't live at home and all I do is exercise and work all day.  I looked at myself between the bottles lined up in front of the obligatory bar mirror.  Who is this person?  At risk of sounding conceited, I  am looking pretty fine, I must say.

Anyway, I enjoyed my wine, my kibitzing with my server and watching a very strange ESPN Reebok competition with very muscular women reminiscent of Jim Carrey as Helga on In Living Color.  Juxtapose this weird program (being viewed on mute) with the lovely piped in music (mostly love songs a al Dino or Frank) and it made for quite an evening.

Of course, everything was fine until my favorite song...'The way you look tonight" came on.

'Bartender...another please'

And the topper of the evening?  While I sitting there enjoying my wine and gazing upon my stunning countenance in the mirror, I hear...

"King of the Road" 

What a weird song to be playing in this venue.  Certainly did not fit with the usual lounge music type tunes featuring the melodious tones of crooners like Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra or Harry Connick.

I hadn't heard nor thought about that song in years.

Significance?

Well it was my father's favorite song, of course.

Of course...