A Mixed Bag

I am the King, or perhaps the Queen, of the Dirty look in our house, but lately Carlos has been giving me a run for the money.

When we were in Greenville last week to see Audra McDonald, we'd taken our seats and the theater began to fill up.

A rather robust woman came down the aisle and plunked down next to Carlos and immediately took possession of the armrest. I turned to see him look her in the face, then look down at her arm, and then look her up and down.

I almost had to step in before a fight ensued.

I was afraid Robust would have taken Carlos in two out of three falls.

We had a nice mellow anniversary day. Just the two of us doing things we wanted to do, and then with a nice late lunch after.

Of course, there was a bit of drama, because the restaurant we first chose sat us at a table where the server was nowhere to be found; we sat ... and sat ... and then I suggested we move along somewhere else.

At the door, I handed the menus back to the hostess and said we'd waited almost ten minutes and no one came near us, and, still sitting down because her job is so taxing, she said, "Yeah, I went back and told the guy you were there."

I replied, "Maybe someone could have walked to our table and told us that 'the guy' was coming. But we're still leaving, and can I get one of the managers business cards please ... Adrienne?"

I feel a gift card coming soon ... to be used for take-out only.

And, down the street was another restaurant where, after about thirty seconds, I had my beer ordered. so, yeah, there's that, too.

I realized this week, as the nighttime temperatures have dipped into the 30s and 40s that I have a mild form of claustrophobia.

Like the "stuck in a coffin" kind, not the "trapped in an elevator" variety. I can take elevators and small rooms, but coffins ... and, No, I've never actually been inside one, at least in this lifetime ... are too confining.

But I get the gist at night when Tuxedo curls up between Carlos and I while we sleep, and then MaxGoldberg settles in on the other side of me. And with Consuelo sometimes taking up residence on my feet, I tend to feel like I can't move and that's when my 'panic' sets in and suddenly I am kicking at the sheets and blankets and Consuelo is sailing off the end of the bed and MaxGoldberg is being sent to the floor. Only Tuxedo takes it all in stride, stands up, and turns around to go back to sleep.

I catch my breath and follow suit.

A week earlier we were out to dinner with the Round-The-Way Gays, David and Neal, to belatedly celebrate Neal's birthday.

I'd had my pre-meal cocktail, as I like to do, and then as dinner was served, I asked our waiter, a cute little thing with adorable blue eyes, for a glass of Albariño, to go with my meal, and off he went.

A minute or so later he walked by and said he hadn't forgotten the wine; it was coming. A few minutes later he assured me he'd be right back. 

A few minutes later he appeared with a very full glass of wine and said, as he set it down, "I asked for a generous pour since you had to wait."

As he skipped away ... okay, maybe he was just skipping in my head ... I turned to David and said, "I imagine he's been generously poured on more than one occasion."

On our anniversary, we also hit up a bookstore. Carlos was looking for a book on Nikola Tesla and I am always looking for a new book.

But as I perused the shelves, I saw Carlos wandering down an aisle with one of the store clerks leading the way. I heard her say, "Tesla ... should be right here."

And as I looked up from the next aisle, I saw a book on Tesla right in front of me, so I held it up above the shelves and looked at Carlos, and said, "Is this what you're looking for, sir?"

The clerk thanked me profusely, seemingly unaware that Carlos and I were together. Apparently she thought I was just wandering the stacks and eavesdropping on conversations.

Yeah, I was doing that ... too. Until i found a book on Zelda Fitzgerald and a book on cocktails. The Roaring Twenties and Booze? I'm in!

We're off to Pride this weekend in Columbia. South Carolina doesn't celebrate Pride during pride month possibly due to the high heat, the unbearable stupidity humidity, and the chance for showers. So, it's this weekend, which will be sunny and glorious, and about eighty degrees.

Last year we were working Pride with our marriage equality group, The Will of the People Fund, so this year it'll be nice to be there now that equality has come to South Carolina and America.