Matthew and I just got home from an enlightening dinner. Those of you that have been fortunate enough to attend the lovely establishment of Las Margaritas know what kind of enlightenment I may be talking about. Cheshire Bridge Rd. in Atlanta is a heavily gay populated area, and Las Margaritas is a hotspot right in the middle of it. It has been one of our favorite Mexican restaurants since we got married because it’s a great atmosphere and the margaritas are unbeatable. (Just don’t ask for the wine list, right, Charles?)
So we walk in tonight, anticipating a low key dinner with some cheese dip and tacos, and say we want to sit out on the porch. It was pretty crowded (which, by the way, is one of my favorite things about going to a weekday dinner out in Atlanta), and as we walk outside, we see what appears to be an MC on his MacBook in front of a projection screen. We immediately see that we are only the second ‘couple’ table; the others are groups. We sit down, Matthew orders a margarita and the reality of what is going on hits us. There is a game (cleverly called ‘Crazy Bitch Bingo’), similar to trivia, where each player has a Bingo card, and the MC, named Bryan, plays a theme song to a tv show. The card has the tv shows, and the first player to get five in a row wins. By this time, I realize that I need to order a margarita, too. J
Right from the start, Bryan says, “Everyone check out the straight couple that just walked in and is wondering what’s up!” (There were a couple of four letter words in here, too.) It took me a minute to realize he was talking about us. I just laughed it off and thought that was that. Oh, how wrong was I! Every couple of minutes, the dude called us out! He announced to everyone that Matthew’s “body language” made him “definitely straight” so no one “get any ideas.” Round 2 was called ‘All Things Gay’ and consisted of pictures (i.e., Cher, Subaru, Madonna, etc.) that filled the Bingo card boxes. During the showing of one particularly crude picture, I was laughing and talking to Matthew, and Bryan called out, “Straight girl knows what it is!” and then followed up with, “This is 2011, girl, there should be none of that going on!” I’ll let you guys use your imaginations as to what he was referring. He insulted every race, gender, preference in the hour and a half we were there. He kept referring to this ‘date’ Matthew and I were on, and finally, I lifted my hand up to show him we were married. That just got him going more. He said, “You just wait until Round 3 – I’m going to have to come on over to yo’ table!” And on and on it went…. As much fun as we were having being the center of attention, we decided to pay our check quickly (which had gotten pretty high after the margaritas we had to drink!) during the break after Round 2 and squeeze on out as discreetly as possible.
Tonight was one of those rare times that you enter into a situation with low expectations and life pleasantly surprises you with something so much better. In high school, the infamous barn dances were always so much more fun when you went dateless and were just going to make an appearance (if you’re not from Kingsport or had the opportunity to hear about these dances, I’m sure I’ll get around to them at some point). In college, the nights you went out ‘for just a couple of hours because you have a test tomorrow’ often turned out to be those nights you’ll never forget (Ring a bell, JRoller?). Sometimes I’ll be laying in bed on a Sunday morning and have to drag myself up to get to church, and then those are the mornings I am most moved by God’s message. Even an awkward baby shower can prove you wrong. Most recently, with school winding down, I was at an awards ceremony, and I was feeling bored before it even got started. Then, I felt as if the keynote speaker’s remarks were directed right to me; they grabbed my attention and made me even more excited to get going with my career.
The downside of this whole idea is that you never know when it’s coming – you can’t plan for these times that you’ll laugh and tell stories about for weeks. On the other hand, how great it is that we can never plan for what is in store for us – in the big life picture or dinner at a Mexican restaurant.
On a different note, my hooding ceremony is tomorrow and graduation is Saturday. I’m praying for safe travels for my family as they travel to Atlanta, and selfishly, I’m praying for pretty weather (or at least non-raining weather) on Saturday as graduation is outside.
Until next time, sending love,
The Spiveys
The Spiveys
No comments:
Post a Comment