Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Friday night at the Bar (or putting the phrase"love everybody" to the test

I was at the Tack Room Tavern,a "polo-crowd" bar at the polo fields with Big B last friday night. I had a bladder infection 2 days before and Big B doesnt drink, so we sat with a plate of food at the bar. We were sitting ,laughing and talking ,when this tall,pale,bleached blonde, thickly made up, woman, in her late forties descended behind us, to "chat".
Her first question to me was "why are dressed like that?" to which I responded, "like what?"
"you really can't wear that, you know...it doesn't look good." she boldly stated, with much certainty.She then continued in a rapid fire manner,"You are so old!How old are you?you are as old as this guy."pointing to the guy in the stool next to me( Paul,a craggy gray haired guy in his sixties sitting next to me, was also listening in to her rant, and felt quite pleased to be included , even if to be used as an example of how "old" I was.).Leaning into Brian's face,she slurred,"you must be 30 years younger than her!Is she a trust fund baby? She 's a trust fund baby. Hang onto her and ride the wave til its gone!" she advised Big B.
She turned back to me,"So, how old ARE you?"
I replied,"I think I'm about the same age as YOU."
"Oh God, Im not as old as you."-she said.
"I think you're very drunk" I stonily said,staring into her unfocused eyes.
"NO, Im not drunk at all", reaching for her wine.
Paul and I looked at one another and shook our heads, "sad", "yes. sad".
I'd never been affronted like that before, it was oddly fun.
My thoughts and feeling were as follows, she WAS sad and unhappy. She needs to NOT drink ever if she wants to have friends or be invited to social gatherings!
It was a lesson in deep acceptance and I needed to love her even more than someone easy to love.
After saying our goodbyes to Paul, Big B and I slipped away.I was left with a dirty sensation that took all of 3 minutes to shrug off.