Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and I am feeling grumpy about it. Oh, don't get me wrong. After several severe tongue-lashings (okay, not really- after one pitiful, weeping plea, to be exact), Mr. Moon did call down to Apalach to see if any rooms were available for the weekend but of course, it being Valentine's weekend, there were not.
So instead we're going to go out to eat tonight at my favorite restaurant and then we're going to go dancing and romancing.
Wrong.
After dinner we'll be going to various billiard halls and sports bars to do research for the new project.
Ay-yi-yi, as they say in places where ululation is practiced, and also, be still my heart.
Well, I suppose it's better than crawling under the house, although that may happen too before the weekend is up as there is something funky going on with the electricity in the far end of the house. Frankly, I think we should hire the skinniest electrician we can find but then again, why pay someone to do something that you can do yourself?
Which brings me back to the billiard halls because it looks like this is really going to happen and it's going to be a big ol' do-it-yourself project from tearing down walls in the building to laying the tile in the bathroom. At least two or three of the children are going to be involved as well because quite frankly, they have a lot of experience in the bar biz. Some of it from one side of the bar and some of it from the other. Me? Well, I'm not sure Mr. Moon wants me working down there because, as he put it last night, "Someone will piss you off and you'll get mad and that will lead to a problem."
Oh, Mr. Moon. You know me so well.
Plus, I think he has in mind to have younger, um, tastier people working at his bar, which is probably a good idea but come on! Who wouldn't want to be served their ice-cold beer by a motherly lady with purple eye shadow who will not only listen to problems but have many suggestions as to how to deal with them?
I imagine that kick the bastard out would be a bit of advice that would be serviceable in many situations.
Also, I can instruct love-struck ladies on how to get their man:
Make biscuits.
See? I am full of good advice and I have a writerly ear which means that I actually LOVE to hear about people's problems.
And if someone pisses me off, then obviously we don't need them in our bar. Right?
So what's the problem?
I don't know.
I imagine these and many other things will be discussed tonight on our date. I am planning on wearing my silver jewelry and just saying that makes me think of Joanie Mitchell and her song, Carey, and living in Denver in 1973 and how cold and lonely I was and listening to that album over and over again, wishing I was going to the Mermaid Cafe to have fun that night. I found two silver bracelets in a little shop there and I bought them because they gave me a feeling of having discovered some part of me which had been missing and I've been wearing silver bracelets ever since, an armful of them that clink and tingle and tangle as I dance or move through the velvet darkness of a night out.
I have a new piece of silver jewelry which came most fortuitously in the mail today, bought off of ebay in a transaction arranged and pulled off by Maxine and me which should qualify us to work in the CIA or maybe that other secret organization which we don't even know the initials of. It is perfect for a Valentine's Eve outing and you can be sure it will be part of my silver tonight.
I'm just praying it's not one of those nights where I can't figure out what to wear and finally end up, a hot-flashing pathetic mess on the bedroom floor in front of the closet, crying, "I can't go out! I'll just make porridge for supper!"
No. I hope it's a little bit magical, that we'll look into each others eyes and say, "Hey. This is going to be a new adventure. Let's work hard and make it work. And by the way, have I told you how much I love you?"
And then tuna will be eaten and yes, we'll go shoot some pool and maybe somewhere we'll find a jukebox that plays something that we can dance a little dance in a dark corner to, our eyes flashing, my silver too.
Honey, get out your cane. And I'll put on my finest silver. We'll go down to the Mermaid Cafe have fun tonight.
Oh, you're a mean old daddy but you're outasite.
Sing it, Joanie. Remind us of our yearning years while we're still firmly embedded in our earning years, trying out new adventures, working hard, remembering to wear our silver.
